Infected
by Jestus the Strange
Summary: Guess what... this story is getting rewritten! You heard me right, rewritten! I didn't like how it went the first time around so I decided to rewrite it. It'll be called Infected Redux probably so look out for that in the not so distant future.
1. Part 1: Loving Embrace

Reaping Fox is my name. I hope you enjoy the first chapter of my new project, Infected, as much I did writing it. Review and vote if you can. Again, enjoy the chapter and enter a darker side of the Starfox universe (later on in the story.)

I woke up slowly, still feeling the afterglow from last night coursing through my body with each breath I took. The sunlight filtering in through the lace curtains around the four-post king sized bed played over her caramel brown fur perfectly, making my heart beat a little faster as I stared at her wonderfully shaped body. I gently place a hand against the back of her neck and slowly ran it down the soft fur on her back, the feel of it passing through my fingers sending memories of last night running through my head. I slowed my pace when I reached the small of her back and continued down along the length of her slender, white-tipped tail back towards my waist. I sighed contentedly and let my hand rest on the small of her back, just above her inner thigh, feeling happy that I have someone such as her to wake up to every morning.

I gazed up at the sun drenched ceiling and felt her cuddle closer to me in her sleep, her slightly moist netherlips brushing against my sheath while her arms wrapped a little tighter around my neck. I murred quietly in pleasure at the feel of her breasts against my chest and let my fingers start sliding towards her lower lips, wanting to make her feel good in her sleep. I brushed my finger across her tail hole and circled it a few times finger before moving on to her flower, listening to her light breaths as they passed over my neck. I brushed some of her copper colored hair from over her face and marveled at her beautifully peaceful face before I gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead, feeling her fur bristle slightly against my lips. I rubbed my finger against her slit and heard her mumble something inaudible in her sleep as she shifted a little into my waiting fingers. I gently slid two of my fingers into her warm tunnel and started to slowly pump my fingers in and out of her, rubbing her clit with my thumb to make her feel good.

I leaned my head forward a little and gave her ear a little nip as her breath started coming out in small gasps. She bucked her hips lazily into my fingers, coating my palm in her love juices as I added a third finger in her cunt. She moaned quietly into my chest and lifted her head to give me a deep kiss on the lips, feeling her tongue slip into my mouth and begin to wrestle with mine. I returned her kiss with the same amount of passion that she was giving me and felt my shaft start to poke through my sheath. I heard her moan into our kiss as the head of my cock rubbed against her clit, adding to the mounting pleasure that the both of us were feeling.

She unwrapped her arms from around my neck and snaked one of them towards my thigh, sending shivers of excitement down my spine. She placed her hand on my inner thigh and started to drag a finger towards my growing member at a creeping pace, making me smile in anticipation as I matched my thrusts with her tortuous pace. I untangled my tongue from hers and slowly pulled my muzzle away from hers, finally listening to my lungs pleas for air. I leaned my head against her shoulder and panted for breath as I nuzzled my nose into her soft, warm neck fur. She shuddered against the contrast my cold nose made against her neck and gently nibbled on my ear, her bucks starting to get a little more forceful as I picked up my thrusts. I murred in pleasure and gently bit down on her neck, feeling a spark of pleasure run through my head as she rubbed her finger up along the length of my shaft. I bit down a little harder and licked my tongue around the spot I bit down on, listening to her pants of pleasure as I continued to pump my fingers in and out of her slick pussy. I let go of her neck and rubbed my nose down her jaw line to the hollow in her throat before pressing my lips against her jugular, feeling her heart beat rhythmically under my kiss.

She stopped nibbling on my ear and leaned her head against mine, her sweet smelling breath entering my nostrils as she moaned quietly from my fingering. I moved my head from underneath hers and stared lovingly into her shimmering emerald green eyes, seeing my feelings of love mirrored on her face. She leaned her muzzle close to mine and gave me a gentle peck on the tip of my nose, running her hand across the back of my neck while she cradled my sack in her other hand. Her gaze changed to one of lust as she smiled down at me and pulled my hand out of her dripping wet snatch. She turned around and licked my fingers clean of her juices before leaning down to get at my member, sliding her wet pussy along my stomach until it was infront of my face. I purred sexily at her before letting my tongue lap up a pearl of her cum as it trickled out of her slit, listening to her murr back at me when she gave my tip a soft lick. She took my entire length into her mouth and lightly squeezed my nuts, sending shocks of pleasure down my spine. I rubbed my tongue against her slightly swollen clit and started sucking on it sensually, making her double her efforts on my cock. She started bobbing her head on my member, getting a groan from me as I squirted some pre into her eager mouth. I let go of her clit and pressed my muzzle into her as deep as I could go, coaxing some of her sweet juices into my mouth as I ran my tongue along her inner walls. She responded to my actions with a muffled groan and wrapped her mouth around my left testicle, her tongue caressing it with her saliva. I moaned inside her tunnel and flicked my tongue along her walls, looking for her G-spot so I could give her intense pleasure.

She slid her hips back a little farther and forced my muzzle deeper into her loins to keep me there longer. I happily complied with her unspoken desire and continued to lick at her insides, drinking her sweet nectar as it passed over my tongue. I moved my tongue to the extent of its reach and started to lick at the roof of her tunnel, grinning inwardly as she moaned happily around my cock while her walls clamped down around my muzzle. Her cum flooded into my open mouth when I felt her squeeze my sack a little harder, making me cum into her waiting mouth. I swallowed as much of her sweet nectar as I could before pulling my muzzle out of her pussy with a small pop, feeling the after spurts of her orgasm slide down my throat while I softly lapped at her lips. She groaned happily under my tongue and rolled over onto her back next to me, giving me a wonderful look at her gorgeous body. I pushed myself up onto my elbows and let my eyes across her body, taking in every sensuous curve with a mixture of love and excitement. I leaned in next to her and brushed my lips against hers while I moved my hand down her side in an affectionate way. I pushed my lips closer against hers and tasted the bitterness of my seed on her tongue as it wrapped around mine, locking us in our passionate kiss. I felt my member start to stiffen as I pressed my body closer to hers, feeling my lungs start to cry for air. I held off the urge to breath for a good while before slowly pulling away, feeling a euphoric sensation travel through my mind as I left a trail of gentle kisses down towards her breasts.

I flicked my tongue over her hardened nipple and closed my mouth over it as I gently kneaded her other breast in a large, lazy circle. I lightly pinched her nipple and placed my hand next to her hip, using the bed as leverage so I could get into a good position above her. I glanced up at her and caught the mischievous look she sent my way at the same time she wrapped her hand around my cock. I shuddered a little when she started to massage my shaft, her fingers feeling soft against the sensitive flesh. I smiled up at her around her soft mound and suckled on her nipple a little louder, circling my tongue around her areola a few times before returning my attention to her nipple. I purred quietly around her breast in response to the treatment she was giving me and decided to return the favor. I gave her nipple a final tweak before sliding a finger down her stomach towards her already wet snatch, feeling her grip around my cock tighten a little when I rolled her clit between my fingers.

"That feels… nnn…… good, Axel. Please don't stop." I heard her say as she ran a hand down my back while she fondled my sack, a light squeeze every now and then making my member stiffen out even more. I pulled my mouth from her mound with a last lick, a grin on my face at the comment she'd made. I leaned up close to her face and gave her nose gentle peck, feeling her warm breath against my neck. I felt the tip of my cock penetrate her outermost folds and slowly thrust my hips into hers, letting her get used to the size of me again.

"So… big." She gasped pleasurably, slightly pushing her hips into mine to get my cock in deeper into her warm tunnel as she put her arms on my shoulders so she could get more strength behind each thrust. I pulled my hips back away from hers until all that was left in her moist folds was the tip of my cock before thrusting back into her, starting up a steady rhythm while I listened to her pleasured pants. I groaned a little as she started to buck her hips into mine, making a soft slapping sound as my sack hit her butt cheeks.

"Harder….. Axel…." She panted, her nails starting to dig into my shoulders while her legs wrapped around my waist. I gave her what she wanted and started thrusting into her cunt faster, feeling my knot start to swell as it tried to get past her slowly yielding slit. I moaned a little as her thrusts became fiercer, feeling her juices start leaking all over my cock and act as a lube, speeding up my thrusts even more. I felt my climax near almost boiling point and started thrusting into her almost as hard as I could, entranced by the way her breasts bounced when our hips collided with each other. I felt my knot finally push past her lower lips and replaced my thrusts with short, quick ones, using every ounce of self control I had to keep from cumming first. I rammed my member into her tunnel one last time before I felt her walls clamp down onto me, sending her sweet nectar cascading over my shaft. This was all it took to send me over the edge and cum all over her walls, some of our combined love juices seeping past my knot and onto our thighs. She unwrapped her legs from around my waist and pulled herself up into a deep, passionate kiss as she pushed me onto my back. I gave her a few little thrusts to make her moan into the kiss and pulled my lips from hers, wrapping my arms around her waist as I panted for breath.

"I love you so much, Hazel." I whispered affectionately into her ear and gave her a playful nudge with my nose against her neck, making her giggle softly.

"I love you too, Axel." Hazel whispered back as she rubbed my ear softly, enticing a small purr from the back of my throat. I looked up at her and stared lovingly at her as I felt my eyelids start to droop. I laid my head back against the pillow underneath my head and felt Hazel lay her head down against my chest, her arms wrapping themselves around my neck as she fell asleep.

"_How was I ever lucky enough to find such a beautiful vixen to fall in love with?"_ I thought to myself as exhaustion to over, sending me off into a happy sleep with the love I thought I could never have in my arms.

**Remember, review for my story please. Also, Axel isn't mine, he belongs to ShadowFox0324, so don't rip him off without his permission. Hazel does belong to me.**


	2. Part 2: Fond Memories

TWO YEARS AGO

"Are you sure Axel's okay with this, Geno? I mean, I wouldn't want him to come after me when all of this is done with and have him beat the shit out of me." A deep, nervous voice said from across my room. I recognized the voice as my best friend Rowan's and tried to sit up so I could ask him why the hell he was in my room, but my body didn't want to cooperate with my mind. When the nervous tone of my friend registered with my unusually slow moving brain, I groaned internally as I realized what that meant. Rowan wasn't afraid of anything, but there was something that made him freeze up and stutter like a baby: his secret crush Geno Coyotka. I cracked my eyelids to see if Geno really was here and was greeted with a great view of her cute butt and her nude back, her tail swishing slightly over my foot.

"Awww… come on, Row, where's your sense of adventure? I'm sure if Axel were in your position, he would do the same thing. Besides, I just injected him with a muscle relaxant, so he won't be moving for at least an hour or two." I heard Geno say as she turned around and pulled the covers off from over my waist, making me shiver a little as I felt the cold air from my air conditioner pass over my legs. I watched her crawl up onto my bed and continued on her way to my waist, a lustfully hungry look in her pale green eyes. I squinted in the dim light that filtered through my closed blinds and saw Row standing next to my closed bedroom door, staring at her swaying hips with a longing look that gave me a pretty good idea at what he wanted to do. I felt her sneak a hand into my boxers and took a sharp breath when she squeezed my sheath, a giggle coming from her as she began to massage it gently. I felt my anger at the fact that two of my best friends had snuck into my apartment to have a three-way with me slowly start to change into pleasure with a gentle purr from me. She looked back over her shoulder and sighed in Row's direction.

"Oh come on, Row. Please, I can't do this by myself." She said with a smile as she raised her tail to give him a wonderful view of her womanhood and tailhole. "You know you want to." She whispered pleadingly as she peeled back my boxers from over my half erect member. She licked her lips and flicked her tongue over my tip, making me murr happily. Geno moaned lightly and sucked hard on the tip as she started fondling my sack. I looked behind her and saw Row standing with his hands on her butt cheeks, a blissful look on his face with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

"_Way to go, Rowan." _I thought as I watched Geno's face light up with a smile when Row started to thrust his hips into hers. Geno put my cock into her mouth and started to bob her head up and down around it in time with Row's thrusts, enticing another moan from me as she deepthroated me each time. She started to thrust her hips back into Row's with a muffled moan as he reached his hand underneath her and started rubbing her clit, making her suck harder on my cock. She took her mouth off of my now fully stiff shaft and lapped up the bit of pre that had squirted onto her nose before engulfing my sack with her mouth, wrapping her tongue around one of my nuts. I felt my climax nearing as she moved onto the other one, slicking it heavily with her saliva.

"Damn… Geno… I'm close." I heard Row say as he thrust into her cunt a few more times before letting out a low moan, shooting his seed all over her tunnel with one final shove. Geno pulled her lips from over my sack and squeezed the knot that had formed at the base of my shaft before deepthroating my entire ten-and-a-half inch cock, sending me over the edge as well as my hot, sticky seed flying into the back of her willing throat. Her cheeks billowed from the amount of cum that was spewing out of my shaft, drinking it all greedily while she came hard around Row's cock, coating his thighs in her sweet nectar. I came for about a minute and a half before Geno slipped her mouth from around my quivering member, letting some of the cum splash onto her cheeks.

"Wow, Rowan… I didn't think you were that big. Ready for round two?" She asked excitedly as she licked off the excess cum from her cheeks and my shaft. She gave it a teasing peck on the tip and waited for Row to pull out of her cunt before climbing off of my bed. She bent down to pick up something from the pair of jeans she left on the floor and came back up holding a pair of vials with a green liquid in them. She handed one to the confused looking puma and climbed back up onto the bed until she was sitting on my stomach, a smile on her feline face as she uncorked the vial with a small pop. Geno parted my lips and poured the fizzy liquid into my mouth, massaging my throat so I wouldn't choke on it. I stared wide-eyed at her in shock as my mind started thinking up different things she could've put into my body, but the panic was soon overshadowed by extreme pleasure when I felt the substance make its way through my body, driving away the muscle relaxant that had deadened my limbs. I murred deeply from my throat and leaned up to give Geno a hard kiss on the lips, wrapping my arms around her so she wouldn't fall off me when she tried to lean back out of surprise. She purred back at me and shoved her tongue into my mouth, wrestling with my tongue while her breasts rubbed against my chest. She entwined her tail with mine and pulled out of our lust-driven kiss, desire evident in her eyes as she stared into mine.

"Glad to see you awake, Axi. Now the real fun can start." She said gleefully as she let go of me and crawled off of my stomach, revealing my now nineteen inch member standing at attention as if waiting for me to see it.

"What did you give me, Geno?" I asked in shock, feeling my sack gain a little weight as well. I saw my reaction mirrored perfectly on Row's face as his shaft sprang up to an impressive eighteen-and-a-half inches, making him almost fall backwards.

"Oh, just a little something a friend of mine gave me for tonight's party." She said with a grin as she gave me a gentle shove onto my back before lowering herself onto my new length. I looked over at Rowan with a surprised look that quickly turned to a mischievous one as I pointed subtly to her tailhole, making sure he knew what I wanted him to do. It took him a few seconds to realize what I was telling him to do, but he figured it out eventually and climbed up onto the bed behind her. He placed his paws on her hips and shoved upwards violently, making her gasp in pain as he hilted her in one thrust.

"So…. tight…" Row muttered as he started up a steady rhythm, making Geno bounce a little when I started thrusting as well. I looked at her breasts as they bounced infront of me and started sucking on her hard nipple, swirling my tongue around it before giving it a little nip. She gasped out of pleasure and pressed my head closer to her chest, while her other hand rubbed her other breast in a large circle. I felt my knot start to form again, making me thrust harder into her yielding lower lips. I fingered the collar she always wore around her neck and dragged my claw along the brown leather it was made out of until I heard the clink my claw made against the silver buckle. I pried my lips from around her wet nipple and concentrated on getting her to cum before I did, making my hips slam against her butt cheeks even harder.

"Fuck… me…. harder…." Geno panted heavily, the pain she felt from having her ass assaulted so savagely by Row evident in her voice as she clenched her teeth. We both obliged to her command and started thrusting past our limits just to make her happy. The tip of my cock shoved past her cervix and allowed my knot to slip into her cunt, making me moan deeply before spraying my seed into her womb. I felt her walls clamp down around my shaft and listened to her breath catch in her throat as she came hard around my trapped cock, the heavy scent of our combined juices permeating the air in my small room. I heard Row moan and felt the force he put behind his last thrust make the bed rock a little into the wall behind the head board, adding his musk to the wonderful scent that was our threeway. I leaned my head back against my pillow and felt both Geno and Row flop down on top of me, almost driving the wind out of me with their weight on my chest.

"You… you are…. going to…. Jason's party…. tonight…. right, Axel?" Geno asked in between gasps, making me smile a little when I nodded my head. "Wouldn't… miss… it…."

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I carried the keg out of the elevator and stomped down the hall till I reached the door at the end of the corridor before kicking it a couple of times while glaring at Row, my reason behind said glare all too clear in my eyes. The puma looked away from my glare and kicked the door again, adding a little more emphasis to it. The door finally opened and in the doorway, holding a drink in one paw and a drunk smirk on his face was a coyote with deep brown fur covered by a pair of khakis and a short sleeved shirt with a faded logo on it.

"Hey guys, sorry I didn't hear you. Music must be loud." He slurred with a laugh as he moved out of my way to let me pass. I glowered at my soon to be dead friend Jason and hefted the medium-sized keg into my arms before walking into his penthouse, the music and the buzz of too many people talking meeting me. I walked over to a corner were a few ferrets were talking and put the keg down before walking over to a nearby counter and grabbing a drink myself, leaving Rowan to tap the damn thing himself. I heard an invitation come from a mink that passed by me and I rolled my eyes as I downed the shot I'd picked up, feeling a slight buzz from the drink go through my brain, but I knew it wasn't going to last. I looked around for anyone else I knew, my eyes lingering over the group of girls gathered around Row for almost half a second before I continued, picking out certain faces in the crowd without much luck. I saw Geno wearing her usual torn across the chest tank top and ripped jeans sitting next to a gorgeous yellow bird wearing a black school girl's outfit that showed off her voluptuous figure exceedingly well, surrounded by a group of almost drooling guys.

"Those guys are in for a bad night." I muttered as I grabbed a couple of shots and walked out onto the balcony, leaving the rest of the party behind in favor of the open air. I took a step outside and stopped cold, feeling as if I had been slapped across the face with a shovel. Infront of me with her back to me was a stunning vixen with copper colored hair that seemed to glow in the moonlight that was shining down on this side of the building. She was wearing a flowing black, sleeveless dress that had a split in the back that exposed much of her caramel fur while her white tipped tail poked through a hole just underneath the split. To me, everything else but her had disappeared from my world: sound, my problems, everything. All that was left was her slim figure framed by the night sky and the Cornerian City skyline. I found that my mind had stopped working when I saw her and I realized that I hadn't taken a breath since I stepped out onto the balcony. I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things and took a deep breath before walking over, trying to think of something to say to her. I leaned against the railing and stared out over the city with her, my brain feverishly trying to come up with something to say.

"Can I have one of those?" A melodious voice asked from my left, cutting through my thoughts and almost making my mind stop again.

"Umm… sure…" I answered distractedly, handing over one of my shots to her outstretched paw. She accepted it gratefully and downed the thing in a second before tossing the glass behind her, making it shatter on the wall behind us. She looked back over the city for another minute before turning her attention back to me; her iridescent emerald green eyes staring into my surprised frost blue ones with a hint of interest.

"So, were you dragged here too…. oh, I'm sorry, I didn't ask what your name was. Mine's Hazel." She said with the faintest hint of a smile playing on her muzzle as she continued to look at me, waiting for me to respond.

"Nice to meet you, Hazel. Name's Axel." I replied with a small smile of my own. "I was invited, but I feel like I was dragged here." She nodded understandingly at my answer and looked back over the city as she leaned onto the railing with her arms folded on top of each other. I drained the small glass of its contents and threw it out over the railing, hoping it didn't hit anyone I knew or kill someone I didn't.

"So, were you dragged here by Geno too, or was that just me?" Hazel asked in a bored tone while she looked sideways at me to see my response. I nodded and looked over my shoulder to see that the group of guys around her and her friend had grown a bit larger.

"She can be 'persuasive' at times." I muttered at the sky, thinking back over all of the things she'd made me do for her over the course of our friendship. I heard her laugh at my comment and looked over to see her staring at me again, her muzzle lit up by a bright smile while her body was turned fully in my direction.

"That is true, but try living with her as a roommate. 'At times' is an understatement." She replied as she folded her arms across her chest, the smile never leaving her face. I smiled back and looked over into the party to see Rowan and Jason dancing on his coffee table, their shirts off while the girls cheered them on. I shook my head and pinched the bridge of my nose, fuming at how drunk the both of them had gotten in just thirty minutes time.

"Friends of yours?" Hazel asked with a chuckle. I shook my head again and stared at her with an annoyed look on my face. "That answers that question, but here's another: Wanna ditch the party and go do something else?"

I looked at her with a grin and nodded once. "Ladies first."

"Oh, such a gentleman." She replied with a roll of her eyes before she walked back into the crowded penthouse, watching from the corner of her eye to see if was following or not.

"I could grow to like this girl." I thought happily as I pushed off the railing and walked after her.

It may seem a little short, but my mind is running on empty in the ideas department. I also want to point out that I don't own Geno; she belongs to coyotek (Thanx) or the yellow bird wearing the schoolgirl uniform. She belongs to Frosen. Chapter 3 should be up sooner or later, depends on when I have time. Till then, play **DEAD SPACE** and scare yourselves shitless.


	3. Part 3: Last Goodbyes

This chapter is in Hazel's **POV**. Just letting you'll know that.

Hazel's childhood; Eight Years Ago

It was raining that night when my life was destroyed. I could hear the drops hitting against the window as if in an attempt to keep me from falling asleep. I rolled over onto my side in my small, twin sized bed and tried to block out the annoyingly loud patter against my window, but it wouldn't fade into the background of my silent room. I covered my head with my blanket and added my pillow so I could go to sleep, but the rain just pounded on the glass harder.

"Why is this happening to me?" I muttered sullenly into the pillow, wondering if I had done something to offend someone up there and this was their payback. I sat up and threw my pillow at the window before blowing a strand of loose hair from infront of my face as I stared at my reflection in the mirror on my desk. My hair was in a disheveled mess atop my young face while my eyes stared back at me with an exhausted look. I tried to tame my unruly hair by patting it down but it stayed in the tangled mess. I sighed and was about to lie back down when my mom barged into my room with a strange look in her eyes and blood covering her nightgown, her hair in messy tangles while her cheeks were soaked in tears.

"What happened to you, Mom?" I asked fearfully as she slammed the door closed behind her and braced herself against it. She looked back at me with a look of pure terror that made me want to cry but it also kept me from uttering even a single whimper.

"Where are you, my love? I just want to play with you and Hazel, that's all." I heard my father call out from down the hall, his voice sounding as if it were being fed through an amplifier. My mom stared out at the rain soaked window and clenched her teeth against the loud thump that hit my bedroom door, pushing her back a few inches. I cowered under my covers and wished desperately that this was all a horrible nightmare, but the manic laughter of my father and the cries of my mother as she tried to keep him from coming in sounded all to real to me. I heard the door finally give way under my father's battering and watched through my thin sheets in horror as he shoved my mom roughly to the floor before sinking his teeth into her neck, blood gushing out past his mouth as he bit down roughly. I listened to my mom's strangled whimpers with my eyes squeezed shut and I tried not to picture what he was doing to her, but the sound of breaking bones made it almost nightmarish to keep them shut.

"I just want this to end." I thought cowardly when I stopped hearing my mom's screams of pain, the only sounds still left in the room were my father's irregular breathing and my almost jack hammering heart beat. The sheets were ripped off from over me and I was greeted with a bloody grin that seemed to fill my entire field of vision.

"Why, hello, Hazel dear. Mind if we play a game?" My father asked, some of the blood from my mom's neck dripping from his canine teeth onto the floor as he cocked his head to the side with a flash of a grin that split his face into an almost comical mask. I shook my head and tried to shy away from him, but he held me in place with his hand clamped around my left wrist. I tried not to stare him in the eye and started trembling in fear as he licked my cheek, leaving a mixture of his saliva and blood on it. I started trembling even more when he grabbed my chin and turned my face so that I was staring him in his now blood red eyes, the parent I used to know nowhere to be found in his crazed stare. I felt tears start to well up in the corners of my eyes and I wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere away from him, but I couldn't do anything about his almost crushing grip on my arm.

"Oh, come now, Hazey-wazey. Why won't you play a game with me? I promise I won't bite." He said as he let go of my chin and wiped a tear away from my cheek with the back of his hand. My eyes went wide with terror at the way he said 'bite' and tried to get my arm free from his grasp when I felt an electric sensation run through my arm. I stopped moving completely and stared in awe as my father was launched off of the bed as if he'd been struck by lightning. He crashed through my wall and landed on the other side with blue sparks popping off of his blood stained pajamas. I looked down at my left arm and saw tendrils of electricity arching on my wrist, repairing the cut that his claws had made. I climbed off of the bed and knelt down next to my mom's broken body, the tears flowing freely now as I stared at her lifeless sapphire blue eyes.

"That wasn't very nice, Hazel." My father said from the door to my bedroom, holding onto the doorframe for support. I looked up and saw his leg twisted out from under him at an impossible degree while his claws dug into the wooden frame, leaving splits in it from the force he was exerting. I clenched my jaw against the whimper I wanted to let out of my mouth and stood up, my arm glowing a gentle blue from the energy flowing through it. He scowled at me and wrenched his claws from out of the doorframe before awkwardly lunging himself at me, the infected parts of his body now apparent through his burned off fur.

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I woke up with a start when I felt Axel squeeze my butt cheek in his sleep, almost making me send a hundred thousand volts through his body. I took in a deep, shuddering breath and held it for as long as I could to calm myself down. I watched as the blue glow left my arm and let out a quiet sigh of relief as l lay my head back down against his chest, trying not to let my mind wander back to the memory that just came rushing back to me.

"It's okay, Hazel. It's over now, he can't hurt you anymore." I reassured myself quietly, but I knew I didn't have any control over my memories, so the relief was short lived. I stared at Axel's smiling face as he slept and felt a sharp pang of guilt at how close I'd been to ending his life. I unwrapped my arms from around his neck and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips before I lifted myself from on top of him, feeling his arms wrap a little tighter around my waist. I smiled at his unconscious movement and gently pried his arms from off of me before I quietly slipped off of the bed and onto the cold, hardwood flooring. I looked at the clothes littered around my room and couldn't help but smile at what we had done last night.

"I love you." Axel muttered in his sleep before turning over onto his side, his deep, sultry voice tickling my eardrums. I smiled a little wider at what he said and crept over to my bedroom door, my footclaws making soft clicking noises. I opened the door and took a last look at him before sighing affectionately, happy that I can spend my life with someone like him. I walked into the hall and closed the door quietly behind me, hearing my stomach growl audibly for attention.

"Good thing I went grocery shopping." I mused as I pulled on a t-shirt I'd grabbed from my bedroom floor and walked down the hall to the living room, the medium sized room basking in the glow of the sunset that shone in through the wall of windows that curved from one side of the room to the other. I continued towards the kitchen and listened to my stomach growl even louder with a light scowl on my face at its impatience. I reached into a cabinet and grabbed a skillet from the top shelf before moving off to the fridge to grab some eggs, cheese and ham for a couple of omelets. I turned on the stove burners and cracked the eggs into a bowl I pulled out of the cabinet and started whisking them around while the stove heated up, whistling a lullaby my mom used to sing to me when I was younger. I poured the eggs into the skillet when they were fluffed enough and waited for the omelets to heat up before adding the ham and cheese. I grabbed a spatula from the drawer and slid them onto a plate for me and Axel and put his on the counter before digging hungrily into mine, swallowing the first scalding bite with a pained look on my face because I forgot it was hot. I put my plate down and went back to the fridge for a carton of milk so I could soothe my burning tongue. I drank down some of it and licked my lips of the excess milk on them before closing the refrigerator door with my foot. I walked over to my omelet and continued eating, the milk having cooled my mouth down from my moment of stupidity. I wolfed down the rest of my omelet and put all the dishes in the sink so I'd remember to wash them later. I walked out of the kitchen and moved back over to the living room to sit on one of the couches in the center and wait for Axel to wake up. I grabbed the remote from off of the couch arm and turned on the holo-vid screen to see what was on, but nothing seemed interesting on any of the channels I flipped through until I settled on the news. I turned down the volume so it wouldn't wake him up and stared intently at the red-stripped muzzle of the badger staring back at me from a small square next to the news anchor, his amber colored eyes boring a hole into my brain.

"Twenty-four year old Jasper McKinley was killed today in a bizarre accident by way of being run down by a semi-trailer on the outskirts of the city. No body has been found to confirm his death as of yet, but a body has been found for the truck driver, and three others who were in the crash as well…." I tuned out the rest of what the anchor said and leaned against the back of the sofa, not believing what I had just heard. A rouge semi-trailer had just killed one of my oldest friends and no body had been found. Something didn't sit well with me on that problem, but my mind didn't want to work after such a bomb had been dropped on me. I turned off the screen and sat in stunned silence as my brain tried to reboot itself. I heard Axel's footfalls come down the hallway, but they sounded distant, detached. I hardly felt it when he wrapped his arms around me from behind and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I heard him ask what was wrong, but I couldn't answer him. All I could do was stare into the spot where Jasper's head had been and sit there, my emotions not knowing whether to show themselves or stay bottled up. I watched Axel climb over the back of the couch from the corner of my eye and felt him hug me close, asking again if everything was alright in a soothing voice that pushed my emotions over the edge on the knife they had been balancing on. I shook my head and broke down sobbing onto his shoulder, letting my sadness envelope me completely. I hugged him around the waist and cried into his stomach fur, memories of the times Jasper and I had spent together making me sob even harder. I felt Axel's satin-soft, black fur grow damp beneath my endless tears, but couldn't feel any reprieve from my sadness. He sat there patiently, waiting for me to cry my fill like a guardian angel as he rocked me gently back and forth. The motion helped deaden the pain of my friend's passing, but it didn't help stop the tears that continued to stream down my cheeks. I looked up at his warm, understanding face and dried my eyes on the back of my paw.

"Feeling better?" Axel asked, wiping his paw along my cheek to get some of the tears I missed. I nodded my head as my answer and looked out over the ocean as the setting sun reflected off of the water, making the ceiling sparkle like thousands of diamonds.

"I made you a late breakfast." I whispered as I pointed at the omelet I'd left out for him on the counter. I felt his lips brush against my forehead as he unwrapped his arms from around me and climbed over the couch to get his food. I lay down on the sofa and closed my eyes against the glare from the sun, the sofa feeling warm after having soaked up most of the sun's rays for the day. I heard the scraping of fork against plate and smiled at the noise Axel made when he ate, wondering if he was just as hungry as I had been. I lifted my head to see the sun get blocked by a cloud and watched the shadows plunge everything into a semi-twilight state. I sat up and felt Axel slide his arms around my waist as he sat back down behind me, his breath smelling of his ham and cheese omelet as it passed over my neck and into my nose. I leaned back into his arms and smiled up at him, feeling my sadness towards my friend's disappearance start to numb itself as I stared into his eyes.

"What a touching moment between two young lovers. Makes me want to vomit." A deep, foreboding voice called out from behind us. I looked back at the same time Axel did and saw a figure wearing a black cloak standing just beyond the little light that was filtering through the clouds into our living room. I didn't know what it was about this figure freaked me out, but it obviously didn't have the same effect on Axel that it did me.

"Who are you?" He growled menacingly as he hugged me closer to him in a protective way. The figure laughed harshly at his question and took a step towards us, his arms at his side in a form of non-hostility. Axel let go of me and climbed over the couch to put himself between me and the hooded figure.

"Do you really think that you could stop me if this escalated to a fight, boy? I could snap you like a twig in less time it would take for you to breathe." The figure sneered as he took another step towards me, his stance still in one of non-hostility while his voice dripped with violent intent; as if hoping he would get into a fight. I felt my heart start to beat faster in my chest when he said that. I shrunk against the sofa and started to feel the panic set in. Axel growled again and took up a defensive stance infront of me while eyeing the figure warily, looking for an opening to start with while still protecting me. The figure stopped walking when there was only a ten-foot gap between them and disappeared from view, as if he hadn't been standing there only a second before. I blinked a couple of times to see if I was just seeing things, but I was shocked to see him standing next to Axel, who was doubled over in pain as he sank to his knees while holding onto his stomach.

"Should've listened to me. I hate getting my hands dirty." He muttered as he kicked Axel viciously in the side, sending him sliding across the floor into the wall with a heavy thud. I stared at his pained face and felt a paralyzing wave of fear wash over me when I heard the figure chuckle.

"Now, my dear, shall we take our leave? I'm sure you don't want to make this any harder on him than it has to be." He said in a calm voice as he placed a hand on my shoulder. I flinched away from the burning hot hand and leapt to my feet, my arm crackling with electricity as my fear took over and I started backing away from the assailant. He laughed darkly at me and disappeared from view again, only to reappear an inch infront of me. I yelped in surprise and pain when he grabbed my arm, but the pain of his burning hand only intensified when I tried to electrocute him. He growled at my defiance to give up and through me onto the sofa I'd just been sitting on, his arms crossed by the time my vision cleared.

"Must you make this harder for yourself?" He asked, genuine curiosity in his voice as he stared at me from under his hood. I nodded my head angrily and focused on building up a charge in my arm, trying to be discreet about it while I glared back at him. He sighed and turned around to stare out the giant window.

"And to think we'd be able to get through this without major property damage like that badger, Jasper, but I guess they all can't be the same." He said wistfully. I had stopped paying any attention to what he was saying by that time, but when he mentioned Jasper, I felt a deep, primal urge to kill this person. I growled deeply from my throat and watched the crackling electricity start arching towards other things in the room from my hand, shattering some of the windows with the power my hate had brought out of me. I jumped to my feet and lunged towards him, my arm raised as if to wave someone goodbye while my hand curled into a fist around the epicenter of the electrical storm that my fury had conjured up. I slammed my fist down onto his back and felt the discharge blow me back into the couch, the resulting explosion deafening me for a few seconds and making my vision swim. I shook my head to try and clear some of the darkness from infront of my eyes when someone's hand clamped around my neck, bringing everything back into focus very quickly. The figure raised me up from off of the couch without so much as a grunt and held me there in his vice-like grip, my toes barely touching the couch cushions as he tightened his hold on me. His cloak had singe marks on it from where I'd struck him and it was slightly smoldering, but other than that it seemed as if I had never hit him in the first place.

"Well, that was a very impressive skill you exhibited, vixen. I'm impressed. Here I was, thinking that all I'd found was one of the last descendents of the once great Rapturian race, only to find out that she can control electricity as well. This is truly fascinating, but I see that I'm going to have to teach you what the word respect means." He said with a slight edge to his voice as a purple glow surrounded the hand that was holding me by the neck. My eyes widened as I felt the force of a small bomb explode impact on the hollow of my throat, rocketing me across the room and into a wall, my spine cracking in several different places while my ribs snapped as if they were made of glass. The breath was knocked from my body with incredible force and I slumped down onto the floor with a sigh as my body gave out on me. I sank to my knees and heard Axel growling in protest against my pain, but there was nothing I could do about my inability to save either of us. I fell forward onto the cold floor and felt my broken ribs scream in pain, but I didn't care. I liked the feel of the floor against my burning cheek and let unconsciousness win out over my waning will to see him, the last thing I was able to hear before going under was Axel pleading. It was a terrible sound to hear.

"I love you, Axel." I whispered in vain as my eyelids closed, officially closing off a chapter of my life.

So ends another chapter of Infected. Same drill as last time, I don't own Axel, Hazel is mine, and review when you get the chance. Vote away and for those with the mark of the beast; May you sleep soundly, knowing that the Beauties shall be with you always, in your laughter, in your rage, in your sorrow, and in your fear. May the B and B Unit rest in peace. I also don't own


	4. Part 4: Infection and New Lives

It felt as if I were floating in a pool, the waves lapping at my body as if to caress me like a giant blanket. I loved this feeling, of being able to just let go of myself and not have to worry about pain or hurt or sorrow or anything that could hurt me. I stared up at the inky blackness above me and closed my eyes when I heard voices murmuring around me, some deep and threatening while a few where angry, almost furious. I shied away from the furious voices and tried to block them out, to return to my peacefully existence of floating, but the voices didn't want to fade into the background. They only got louder and closer the more I fought to make them fade away. That was when the pain flared into my small bubble of comfort, bright and hot like an inferno of flames. It burned at my fur and illuminated everything in the bubble, making me want to scream for someone to make it stop. The voices faded away completely from my head, leaving me alone with my pain and the fact that I was alone made want to cry. But I didn't. I kept the tears and the hysteria that threatened to make me insane at bay because I knew that I was stronger than that. I knew that was what Axel would've wanted me to do and I wanted to cling to any strand of him left outside of the torrent of pain with every fiber of my being. There was no one to help me through this and I was the only comfort I would have through this explosive pain. I floated among the flames and smiled as if the pain wasn't there, returning to my peaceful bubble by shutting down. I closed my eyes against the bright fire and let myself float, not thinking, not feeling, just floating among the waves.

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I was bored. The pain I was feeling had become a dull roar in the background of my bubble and I found myself wondering if I'd ever get back to reality. Even though reality involved burning pain that coursed through my veins, it was a preferred existence to my endless floating. I started to try and count how many days I'd been in my bubble, but the waves and flames made everything blend together into a blurry mess, so I quit trying afterI got to five. The pain in the background started to quiet, so I guessed that the worst of it was over and I would wake up soon. The flames started to recede from around me until they were barely visible on the horizon of my bubble when they quintupled in strength, overwhelming me with the strength of the pain that was assaulting me now. The flames cocooned around me and engulfed everything with their heat. I screamed once in terror at what was going on around me and felt in that instant a sense of deep dread that went along with a revelation that made me want to explode. I was going to die. I would never get to feel Axel's lips against mine or see his smiling face as he laughed. This realization woke me up and made me scream even louder, my arms wrapped around my stomach to try and keep the pain from ripping me apart. Yet, the pain was already gone. I stared in disbelief at the elegant, downy soft sheets that were covering my legs and let the scream run its course before laying back down onto the bed that someone had lay me down in. I stared up at the high arched ceiling through wide eyes and fought to get my breathing under control while my mind started to spin out of control.

_Where am I? Who brought me here? Why…. Why…. Why…_ My brain asked me but I couldn't answer. I was to disoriented from the pain I'd just been in to really answer any of the questions I needed answers to. I closed my eyes against the dark ceiling and tried to keep my mind blank, not wanting to dwell on any thoughts that would bring back the pain that my heart wanted to forget but my brain wouldn't let go. Axel was never coming back into my life and I had to find a way to deal with that. I opened my eyes again and waited for the tears to start up again, but they didn't. I sat up and felt numb, both emotionally and physically. I looked around at the sparsely furnished room with its massive table topped with a lit six candle candelabra that burned with a soft, blue light. Past the table was an enormous wardrobe with ornate wooden doors and gold leaf swirls spiraling off of the doorknobs. What held my attention, though, weren't the beautifully carved reliefs on the doors, but the vixen staring back at me from the mirror that rested against the wall next to the wardrobe. She had long, flowing raven black hair that spilled over her shoulders while still keeping some of her face obscured. She had bright crimson eyes that seemed to glitter in the candlelight and her fur was of the same color as her hair. Her chest, though well endowed as she was, had a dull silver discoloration to it that probably ran down to her womanhood as well as accenting her palms and tail tip. The thing that stuck out the most, however, were the bandages that wrapped around her right arm all the way up to her shoulder and down to the tips of her fingers. I shuddered to think what could've happened to her and she shuddered as well. I had forgotten I was staring at myself in the mirror and when I raised my hand, so did the mirror me. I panicked slightly and stared in shock at what I'd become. I touched my cheek with my bandaged hand and felt a spasm of pain shoot through my arm, making me wince and gasp quietly.

"I see Sleeping Beauty is finally awake from her nap. How does it feel to be a better part of yourself; to embrace the legacy that your race has left you?" A deep, familiar voice asked curiously, the closeness of his voice frightening me. I covered my chest with the sheet out of pure instinct and searched for the black-cloaked figure who'd attacked me, my eyesight a lot sharper than it used to be. None of the corners of the room looked as shadowy as they should and I could actually count the arches on the dark ceiling. I brought my gaze back to the wall infront of the massive bed I'd woken up in and saw him standing there against the black curtain that spanned the entire wall, feeling his curious stare on me make me shiver. Not because of I was afraid of him, but because the stare he was giving me made me feel as if I were a new piece in a collection of his.

"What did you do to me?" I asked through my teeth, finding the anger I'd felt when he'd mentioned Jasper during our fight. He chuckled at my demand and shook his head as if he were speaking to a child. My eye twitched a little at the thought of him treating me like a child and growled heatedly through my clenched teeth, wanting answers to why everything about my body was different. He walked over to the far end of the wall and pulled a drawstring that made the curtain recede into the ceiling, letting in a view of a gray sky that had a slight blue over tone to it.

"What I did to you is make you an improved being, something a cut above the rest of the inferior beings in this damned universe we are forced to share, so I suggest that you show me the proper gratitude, vixen." He said in a calm voice, although it felt as if he were fighting to keep his anger in check. I turned my attention from him to the wall-sized window, concentrating on the overcast sky so I could gather my thoughts together in some form of consistency. I barely noticed it when he seemingly appeared next to the right side of my bed and was shocked when he grabbed my bandaged arm in his burning hot hands, making a cold sweat dew at the back of my neck when I remembered how badly it had hurt the first time he'd grabbed me. I kept my gaze away from what he was doing and ground my teeth together when I heard a screeching noise as if he were dragging his claws across a chalkboard. When the noise suddenly stopped, I looked down to see what he'd down and wished I hadn't. There was a single, jagged line through the gauze and through it I could see the same infected skin that my father was covered in underneath his clothes when he'd gone berserk and killed my mother. I ripped away the rest of the gauze under his observing gaze and gasped silently as the tears finally hit me. I stared through blurry eyes at the metallic substance that was covering my arm and traced a trembling claw down the tear his claw had made. I whimpered pathetically at what he'd done to me and looked up to see him chuckling at my response. He walked over to a set of ornate double doors at the far end of the room and stopped just infront of the causeway before turning his head to face me, his hood falling from over his face to let me see who it was that had kidnapped me. He was a dragon with cerulean colored scales and white markings on his cheeks and forehead while ivory white horns pointed out from the back of his head. He looked as if he exuded power from every pore of his probably muscular body while a sneer colored his face as he stared at me. I tried to avert my gaze from his, but I just stared at him with tears streaming down my cheeks.

"I wouldn't try leaving this room, vixen. I might tolerate your existence here in our city to a certain extent, but the others are a little less understanding than I am. If you don't want to find out the extent of their disdain for you, I wouldn't entertain any ideas of escape. And as for that lynx you were in love with, he won't be coming for you anytime soon." He said with a superior tone as he glared maliciously at my tear soaked face and opened the door with one hand, his eyes never leaving mine. He walked through the doorway and slammed the door behind him, the door reverberating with the amount of force he put behind the motion. The sound of the slamming door seemed to be the trigger for my body to start feeling sadness again, because it felt as if someone had punched me in the gut. I fell onto my side as the grief took hold of me and curled into a tight ball with my knees against my chin, my sobs sending shudders through my back. It felt as if my heart had been ripped in half by what the dragon had said and it was made only worse by the fact that he was right. I was never going to see Axel again and the thought of never feeling his touch again made it hard to breathe. I gasped for breath against the torrent of pain I was feeling and tried to pull myself together, but each memory I had of Axel kept piling on top of each other as if they were trying to smother me. The last memory I had of him was the pained expression on his face as he hit the wall, and that was what stayed with me now. I tried to close my eyes to try and block out the vision, but the image was persistent. I cried for what seemed like an eternity before I exhausted myself enough to fall asleep, my dreams tormented by a future devoid of Axel and all of the friends I'd left behind.

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It was sometime past midnight, or what I assumed was midnight because it was darker outside and the sky was black, when I woke up again. My eyes were stinging a little from the amount of tears I'd shed, but other than that, I was just tired. I had been waking up off and on all throughout the day, trying to keep away from the haunting dreams I was having, and the last had my throat feeling sore from my screaming. I curled up underneath my covers and hugged my stomach to try and stop the tremors that were tearing through my body, my teeth clenched to keep from screaming again. I heard the massive door open and close, but I didn't try to find out who it was, I just wanted to die so I could get away from the grief.

"Hazel? Hazel, can you hear me? Wake up sleepy-head, I want to see my friend again." A familiar voice whispered from nearby, making me almost look up. _I'm going crazy. I already know Jasper's dead and he won't be coming back either._ I thought to myself as I buried my head deeper into my knees. I felt someone's heavy paw gently shake my shoulder, as if they were trying to wake me up, but I shrugged them off and tried to ignore the voice of my late friend.

"Please, Hazel just look at me once. I don't think I can take the cold shoulder from my best friend. It makes me feel as if you want to push me away." The voice persisted as the paw moved a little lower and tickled my side, making me have to try incredibly hard to suppress a giggle as I continued to ignore the voice I was hearing. The pleading in his voice was ebbing away at my resolve and I looked at the mirror on the far side of the room, just to make sure I was just going crazy. But what I saw made me stop breathing again. Sitting behind me, with an almost sad look on his face, was a badger with a red-stripped muzzle and amber colored eyes. His white furred chest was massive while one of his ebony black-clawed paws was on my shoulder in a tender way; as if he were comforting a younger sister who'd had a bad dream. I felt my heart flutter with joy as I stared at him, but the joy was short lived when I remembered that I was probably going insane. I brought my paw up to his hesitantly and placed it on the black fur, feeling its coarseness as it ran through my fingers. I turned my head in his direction and slowly uncurled from my numb ball, still wondering if I was dreaming all this. I got onto my knees and brought my infected paw up to his cheek, feeling his warm breath blowing over my wrist as he smiled down at me. I smiled back and hugged him around the waist, burying my face into his chest as I cried tears of pure joy at the fact that he wasn't dead. I felt him hug me back and at that moment, I felt happy, as if none of this night had ever happened.

"I'm so glad I got to see you again, Jasper. I thought…. I thought you were dead and…." I trailed off as I continued to cry into his warm fur and listened to his heartbeat. I felt him laugh quietly, the gesture making his chest rumble, and looked up to see him grinning down at me.

"I wouldn't ever die without seeing you again, Hazey. Besides, the truck missed me by a few inches anyway." He replied with a grin before his face became somber with guilt. "I'm sorry I made you worry, Hazel. I promise I'll never do something that would hurt you like that again."

I looked up into his face and leaned my face closer to his so I could lay my head on his shoulder. "I forgive you, Jasper. It wasn't your fault, anyway." I whispered as I rubbed my nose against his neck, wondering if I truly was going crazy. He looked down at me and chuckled as he rolled his eyes at my trying to defend him. He rubbed my back with his paw and held me closer to him as his chuckle died out, leaving us in the quiet room together. I closed my eyes and sighed in content as he started to hum a song that he'd made up a few years back, moving me gently from side to side as if we were dancing. I let him gently lift me off of the bed and started humming along with him as we danced around the room, feeling as if we had never gone separate ways after college. By the time we had made it over to the table, my legs were having a tough time keeping up with him, thanks in part to the day I spent in bed.

"Do you mind if we take a little break, Jasp? My legs feel as if they're about to turn into jelly." I pointed out as we passed the still lit candelabra. He laughed with a nod and danced me back over to my bed, a happy look on his face as we came to a stop. I looked up at him and moved my arms so that they were laced around his neck, a smile lighting up my muzzle as I stared into his ocher eyes. He stared back down into my crimson eyes and gave me warm smile as his grip around my waist tightened a little.

"I love you, Hazel." Jasper whispered, the love in his voice ringing in each word. I stared with unconcealed surprise at his face and found that I felt the same. He pressed his lips against mine and held me against him with his strong paws. I didn't resist because my body didn't want me to, as if it had been longing for his lips and not Axel's. Even now, as we stood there embraced as we were, I looked back at all the times we had been together and I realized that this was how my life was supposed to turn out: in Jasper's arms. Nothing else seemed right compared to the feelings Jasper brought out in me and I wanted more than anything to make him happy. I unlaced an arm from around his neck and ran my fingers down his back fur, the feel still coarse but soft at the same time. I dragged my claw around his side slowly and felt the rough material of his jeans against my fingers as I slid my paw into his boxers. I stroked his sheath on my way down to his sack and gave him a playful squeeze as I continued to kiss my newfound love, our tongues dancing from one mouth to another. I cradled his sack in my palm for a few seconds before giving it another squeeze and moving back up to his sheath, feeling the tip of his shaft brush against my finger. I felt my slit start to wetten thanks to my lust for Jasper and brought my other paw down to his pants so I could unbutton them. I lightly pinched the tip of his cock and started massaging his sack, rolling my fingers over each nut. Jasper pulled his mouth from mine and moved his paw down my butt cheek until he reached my wet lower lips, a lustful look in his eyes as he started teasing me with the tips of his claws. I moaned quietly and finally unbuttoned his pants with my eager fingers. I pulled my paw from in his boxers and yanked them down enough so that I could get at his half erect member with both my hands. He pulled his paw away from my needy slit and took his arms from around my waist. I took the opportunity to get down on my knees and stared at his manhood with the eyes of a kit who'd gotten locked in a candy store after closing. Even at only half it's length, Jasper's cock was at least eight inches long and four inches across with a light pink coloring and a mushroomed tip. I ignored the urge to take him entirely and focused my attention on his white-furred sack; the golf ball sized globes swaying slightly with his breathes. I lapped at them gently, drawing out each lick to further torture him, and inhaled his musky scent, the smell driving my desire crazy with want. I wrapped my lips around one of his nuts and ran my tongue over the smooth fur, listening to his moan of pleasure as I started gently pumping his member with my infected paw. The infection that covered my arm was cold and the feel made his cock stiffen even quicker than it usually would've. I moved onto his other nut and gave this one special treatment as I gently wrapped my tongue around it before slurping on it like a straw. When I felt he had had enough torment from me, I pulled my mouth from around his heavily saliva slicked sack and returned my attention to his still growing cock.

"Yeah, I'm pretty big, aren't I?" Jasper gloated as I traced the veins that were sticking out from his shaft, wondering how he'd be in bed. I smiled up at him and gave his tip a lick before deepthroating his massive member. He groaned pleasurably as I dragged my tongue back up his pole until the tip was all that was left in my mouth and went back down on him again, my nose pressing up against his stomach each time I brought my head down. He sat down heavily on the bed and groaned louder as I bobbed my head up and down onto his dick faster, my cunt starting to leak some of my juices onto the floor. I felt some of his pre squirt into the back of my throat and concentrated my efforts on the tip, suckling heavily for more of his pre as it trickled out of his cock. I felt his member start throbbing gently in my mouth and knew he wasn't far off, so I went back to deepthroating him while I fondled his spit soaked sack in my paw.

"I… forgot how good… you were at this… Hazey… Oh!!" He moaned as he grabbed my head and forced me to take the entire length of his cock in my mouth, the tip rubbing up against the back of my throat. I tried to pull my head back, but his grip was iron clad as he came heavily into my mouth, his hot, sticky seed shooting into the back of my throat and making me choke on it. I swallowed as much as I could, but most of it spewed out of my mouth and onto his crotch and inner thighs as well as dribble down my chin onto my breasts. When he finally let go of my head, I pulled off of his member a little and drank down the rest of his cum. I dragged my mouth off of his quivering dick and licked my lips clean of his pungent cum before looking up at him with a creamy smile on my face.

"Same, aggressive Jasper. You like to be rough, don't you?" I teased as I gave his pole a long lick from his base to his tip, making him shiver a little. I got up onto my feet and walked over to the table set in the middle of the room, my hips swaying a little to make him follow me. I heard his lumbering footsteps behind me and felt him grab me around the waist again as he pressed his lips against the side of my neck.

"I do remember a certain vixen that liked it a little rough, Hazel. Besides, your gorgeous enough to deserve the best whoever she's with can give her." He murmured as he gave my butt cheek a gentle pinch. I rolled my eyes and pried myself out of his embrace so I could sit on the table, my wet snatch all too visible to him.

"So what do I deserve, Jasp? Hmmmm?" I asked as I placed my paws on either side of me and gripped the edge of the table. He took a few steps closer to me and covered my paws in his, his still erect member hovering a few inches away from my womanhood. He leaned his head in close to mine and gave me a smile.

"Everything." Was all he murmured as he pressed his lips against mine, his warm breath entering my mouth alongside his tongue. I kissed him back and felt him grab my hips in his massive paws as he thrust his cock into my willing pussy, a moan of pure pleasure escaping my throat as he hilted me in one thrust. I felt his tip brush up against my G-spot and put my paws on his shoulders so that I could steady myself when he started thrusting into me. He pulled his hips back until his tip was barely being held in place by my folds and thrust back into me, starting up a steady rhythm that had me gasping before long. I pulled my mouth from his and lay my head against his shoulder, my tongue hanging out from my mouth as I nuzzled his neck. He smiled as he picked up his pace, his hips now slamming into mine. He moaned with the pleasure that my cunt was giving him and I felt my climax start to peak as I moaned along with him. I kissed his neck fur and screamed happily as I came around his cock, my juices coating his inner thighs as well as mine. He groaned deeply from his chest and came inside me for the second time that night, his cum mixing with mine as he thrust his cock as deep as it could go into my tunnel. He took his paw from off of my hip and raised my chin so he could stare at my panting face.

"I… I… love you… Jasper. I… will never… take that back… because I know… its true. I love you… with my heart… and soul." I whispered through pants and I knew that I meant every word of it. Jasper nodded his head in agreement and put his paw under my butt so that he could pick me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pressed myself closer to him, making his member press even farther into my pussy. He walked me over to the bed and lay down on the soft sheets with me on top of him, the look on his face reminding me why I loved him.

"I love you, too, Hazel. I will never leave your side or hurt you in anyway, because I care for you too much to do that to you. My heart belongs to you, my love, and nothing will ever change that." Jasper whispered as he kissed my forehead, his eyes sparkling with a kind of truth that made me start to tear up. I wiped my tears away with the back of my paw and smiled down at him as I lay my head down on his chest, his heartbeat like a drum. I felt him rub my back and murred in content as I stared into the flickering blue candlelight, feeling my life finally make sense to me.

"If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up." I whispered into Jasper's white chest fur, feeling stupid for thinking of such a thing when he felt so real to me. He chuckled and continued to massage my back, relaxing me gradually as I felt the sadness and fear that'd had my heart incased in ice that morning begin to get replaced by a sense of happiness and warmth. I loved Jasper and I could see myself being happy with him. There wasn't anything I could ask for to make my life any better at that moment.

**I don't own the dragon that Hazel was talking to, that character belongs to Sonic Fox. Jasper and Hazel are mine, so no ripping off. Review, vote, and above all, just enjoy, because that's all we authors and artists ask of you. Just Enjoy.**


	5. Part 5: Happy Thoughts

There were people laughing and cheering, but I couldn't see past the crowd to find out why. I shoved past a few spectating wolves and continued till I finally pushed out into the middle of the throng, shocked at what I was seeing. A few feet ahead of me were the bloody, broken bodies of my friends, their soulless eyes looking directly at me. I didn't know what to feel at the moment, but when my body came out of the shock I was in, the first feeling I felt was something I did know how to handle exceedingly well: fury. I turned around to yell at the crowd for cheering when they should've been helping to find who'd done this, but my blood froze over when I found myself staring at a vixen with ripped and tattered clothes and her head cocked to the side; her clothes soaked in the blood of my friends with a crazed look in her crimson eyes. There was hungry smile on her lips as she licked her claws clean of the blood and dropped down into a crouch as if she were about to pounce on someone. The sun glinted off of her infected arm and it blinded me, but not to the expense of my other senses. Everyone seemed to grow quiet as I stared her down, but I was quivering with fear as to what was going to happen to me if I couldn't defend myself. The bloody vixen infront of me loosed a feral snarl and was answered by a cheer from everyone around me, but it died down quickly, as if they were waiting with bated breath to see her take her next victim. She launched towards me with the ferocity of a jungle cat and raised her right paw to rake at my eyes, but I leapt to the right and landed on my side with a thud as I tried to get away from the crazed vixen trying to kill me. I jumped to my feet and felt the blood pumping in my ears as every fiber of my being screamed at me to run, to hide, to do anything to get me away from this monster. But the people seemed to press closer around us, blocking off any hope of making an escape.

"What's the matter Hazel, don't want to stay for the fun? We're just getting started!" The vixen laughed in a weird, warped voice as she took another swing at me, her claw knicking my cheek as she flew past. I stumbled back a few steps and clapped a paw to my cheek as I felt my warm blood flow onto my palm. She dropped back down into her crouch and waited for me to get my bearings while she licked the drop of blood from off of her claw, a look of pure contentment on her face. "Hmmmmmmmm…. your blood taste's even better than Axel's did. I want more of it!! I want enough to sate my thirst. I want to drink you dry!!!!"

The sound of her voice startled me and made me backpedal involuntarily as I finally stared at her intently, past all of the blood covering her body and the torn clothes. I gasped in horror and watched as the anthro stood up with an almost insane sense of confidence as she stared at me with her head cocked to the side. "It finally hits home, don't it, sister? I am you and you are I. It's only a matter of time before you snap and kill those you care about in a fit of berserk rage, Hazel. When that happens, I will be waiting." The vixen said as she raised her right paw, her now serrated claws glinting in the sun. I raised my arms to protect myself and felt a surge of fear run through my body as I closed my eyes in expectance of the pain I was about experience. "I… I'm not going to become like you… I will never become like you!"

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I woke up drenched in sweat as I stared up at the high arched ceiling of my prison, my eyes still trying to adjust to the almost absolute blackness that accompanied night on this planet. I sat up slowly, my breathing still not right, and looked around the room to see if everything was still as it should be. The curtains were drawn so no one would be able to see into the massive room, the table was still here as well as the wardrobe and mirror. I stared at my reflection for a second and thought I saw the crazed vixen staring back at me, her crooked smile and wild eyes boring holes into mine until I looked away towards the double doors that were still as imposing as the day I'd gotten here. I took deep, calming breaths, trying to quiet my racing heartbeat, when I heard a grunt underneath me. I jumped at the sound and nearly fell off the bed when I realized who it was. I looked back to see Jasper's almost hurt face staring back at me in the gloom, his amber eyes betraying his worry at my sudden movement.

"Are you alright, Hazel?" Jasper asked in a quiet whisper. I nodded my head slowly and lay back down onto his chest, his heavy heartbeat sounding like a bass drum inside his chest. He wrapped his arm around my waist and hugged me lightly to his body while drew patterns into my back fur. I cringed slightly from his touch, the nightmare still present in my mind, and looked up apologetically to meet his gaze.

"I'm sorry Jasper, I didn't mean to cringe. It was just the nightmare I just had, that's all." I explained quietly, blushing slightly underneath my fur as I told him what it was about. He stared at me for a second and hugged me tighter to him, both arms around my waist now as he pulled me up until I was looking him in the face. His eyes were those of one who was worried for his love while his face tried to compose itself into a comforting smile, but it was the eyes that made me stay locked in his gaze.

"Hazel… You will never become that monster. So long as I live, I will not let you become that monster. I promise that to you." He said as he cupped my cheeks tenderly in his immense paws. I saw the truth in his statement and cupped his face in my paws. "I know you won't, love, but that's what worries me the most. What if you're to close to me when it finally happens? I might go insane with rage and come after you first. I couldn't live with myself afterwards if I…. if I were the one to kill you." I whispered quietly, the tears now coming as a picture painted itself in my head: My claws coated in blood and me howling madly to the sky as I stood Jasper's lifeless corpse.

The picture made me sob and I pressed my lips desperately to his, catching him slightly by surprise with the strength of my kiss. I held his head in place with my paws and kept kissing him, not wanting to let go of him, lest my desperation turn into something worse. He kissed me back just as fiercely and wrestled his tongue with mine, my tears staining his cheeks as they dripped off of my face. He rolled me over onto my back with a heavy motion and continued to kiss me while he kept his weight off of my body so he wouldn't crush me. I let go of his face and panted heavily from the ferocity with which I'd kissed him when he pulled back from my muzzle, but wanted more. I wanted more of him and wanted it badly. He lowered his muzzle to my neck and kissed a trail to my collarbone while he massaged my breasts softly, his paws feeling warm against my chest. He continued from my collarbone to my breasts and flicked his tongue over my nipple while he pinched and rolled the other between his fingers in random intervals, making me giddy with anticipation for what else he was going to do to me. He took my nipple in his mouth and started suckling on it a little roughly, his tongue still playing with it while he steadied himself with his free paw. When he'd had his fair share of my breasts, he got off of me entirely so he could lie on his back and with a deep, lust-filled growl, lifted me off the bed until my wet lower lips were inches away from his muzzle. I grabbed onto the headboard and moaned pleasurably when he dug his muzzle into my pussy, his tongue lapping at my insides as he pushed into me as deep as he could. I pushed my hips into his muzzle with a groan and started thrusting into his face, the need to cum almost burning my insides with desire.

"Nggh… Jasper…. More…" I moaned as he started running his tongue all over my inner flesh, my climax already nearing. I rubbed the tip of my tail against his sheath and heard him moan into my cunt, stretching me wide as he opened his mouth. I screamed in pleasure as I came into his open mouth and onto his face, my body quivering as I rode out my orgasm. He let go of my hips and crawled out from under me so that he was on his knees behind me, his growing member pointed at my tailhole. I looked behind me to see what he was doing and wagged my hips in his direction with a lustful smile on my face. When he didn't make a move to go on, I turned around and softly grasped his cock with my paw. I started pumping my paw up and down his shaft to warm him up before I enveloped it completely with my breasts. I sucked on his tip and gladly lapped up any of the pre that came from him as I kept massaging his dick. He moaned heavily at my treatment and started thrusting into my chest, shoving more of his cock into my mouth with each thrust.

"Hazel… I'm about… to bust…" Jasper groaned as he came in my mouth, holding my head there till he finished. I drank every drop of his seed before taking my lips from around his tip, nuzzling it with my nose and giving it a light kiss. I let my breasts fall so his cock was standing on its own and turned around so I could grab onto the headboard again. My claws dug into the wood and I gasped painfully as his giant cock shoved its way into my tiny tail hole. I held back the tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks and rocked my hips back into his until my butt cheeks were pressed against his crotch. He pulled back his hips and shoved back into me hard, starting up a steady yet painful rhythm that became extremely pleasurable when he started rubbing my breasts while he did it. I moaned through my teeth and began thrusting my hips back into his while his sack kept bouncing against my slit.

"Your… so tight… Hazel. I love this feeling…" He moaned as he started picking up speed, his inhibitions taking a backseat to his pleasure. I knew we were both close, but I didn't know if I could handle much more without him breaking me in half. I moaned in pleasure and came hard onto his inner thighs as he slammed his hips into mine and came violently inside my ass. I tightened my grip on the headboard till my claws began making holes in the wood when he slowly pulled his cock out of me and I gasped in pleasure when his tip came free of my tail hole. I let go of the headboard and felt Jasper's arms wrap around my waist as he pulled me into him, his cock sliding against the bottom of my slit. I murred quietly and leaned back into his chest as I gently rubbed his tip.

"Do you think your going to become… a monster now?" Jasper asked with a groan as I closed my paw around his still hard shaft. I gave him a tired smile and kissed him on the cheek. "Only one way to find out for sure."

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I woke up in a daze, the last few hours of the night blending together in an incoherent blur. I felt sore all over, but my ass was the worst spot. I groaned when I tried to get up and contented myself with lying under the warm covers when I couldn't. I looked to my left and saw Jasper snoring beside me, his chest gently rising and falling as he slept peacefully. I sighed happily, but that happiness was short lived when my stomach snarled for food. It brought me back to the reality that I was trapped in this stupid tower with no food or clothes, or, come to think of it, a bathroom. _Fuck this. I am not staying stuck in this damn room if it means that I can't eat or go to the bathroom. _I thought angrily as I crawled out of bed and stood up on shaky feet, the exhaustion from last night still not fully worn off yet. I stumbled over to the wardrobe and had to grab onto the table to balance myself to keep from falling. I reached the wardrobe and wrenched open the doors to find that all the clothes that I'd left back in my apartment were already there.

"Well… that still doesn't make up for the fact that he kidnapped me in the first place. Not by a long shot." I mumbled as I grabbed a t-shirt and some torn jeans from one of the shelves. I pulled on my clothes and made my way to the doors, the grogginess giving way to anxiety and a small twinge of fear as I reached out for the handles. The dragon's words came back to me when I put my hand on the door handle. _If you don't want to find out the extent of their disdain for you, I wouldn't entertain any ideas of escape. _Would they hate me enough to try and kill me on the spot or would they drag it out painfully and make me suffer? I hadn't done anything to them, so I haven't warranted any animosity from them. Maybe they'd even give me some food if they understood the circumstances through which had forced me to ask them in the first place. I pulled the door open as silently as I possibly could and slipped out into the cavernous hallway, every twelve feet lit by one of the strange, blue flames that kept the candelabra lit in my room. I closed the door behind me and made my way down the corridor, wondering what I'd find if I ever got out of here. I heard my stomach growl audibly and cringed as the sound echoed down the hall. I started sprinting down the hall, throwing caution to the wind in an effort to keep from getting caught. I spied a door not too far away and prayed that it wasn't locked as I slammed my full weight against it. The door opened effortlessly and I went sprawling onto the ground, out of breath and scrapped palms. I jumped up onto my feet and closed the door, praying that he didn't hear me. My heart seemed to leap into my throat when his voice sounded on the other side of the door.

"What're you doing out of your cage, vixen?" He snarled through the door, his voice reverberating with malice and power. I looked around the room for something, anything, to use as a weapon against him. No sooner had I entertained the idea of using a weapon, the door behind me seemed to disintegrate, leaving nothing between me and the angry dragon. I whirled around to meet him and was greeted with him the same way he looked on that first day: garbed in a black, hooded cloak and white markings adorning his cheeks and forehead. There was a fierce snarl on his face as he stared me down and I waited for him to strike me, but it never came. I was airborne without him even having to touch me. I was thrown into a wall and waited for the sound of cracking bones, but that didn't come either. I dropped to my feet and felt my blood ooze down the side of my head, but other than that, I was fine. I ducked when the dragon threw one of his purple bombs at me and sent a bolt of electricity in response as I dropped into a crouch. The bolt hit him square in the chest, but he shrugged it off and quickly covered the distance between us to slam me into the wall. I felt the breath escape my lungs as my back hit the wall, but I kept struggling against him. I sent shock after shock through his body, but nothing seemed to faze him.

"Your just exerting yourself unnecessarily, vermin. I'll win in the end and throw you back in that room, whether you like it or not. Accept the inevitable and just give up." He growled. He pressed his forearm against my windpipe and held me against the wall, my struggling growing weaker as black spots started forming infront of my eyes. I gasped for breath and tried to pull his arm from over my neck, but in the end he was right. _No. Don't give in, Hazel. Fight back. Fight back to protect those you love. Fight to protect yourself. FIGHT!!!! _A voice argued in my head, commanding me to fight. It sounded like that vixen from my dream, but the voice sounded wrong. It sounded clear, giving warmth to my dead limbs and hope to my heart.

"No. I won't give up. Not as long as I have a breath in this body." I growled back. I charged up as much electricity as I could into my left paw and shoved it into his face, discharging the ball with a boom that made his grip on my throat loosen to the point where I could actually breathe. I gulped down as much air as I could before I heard him chuckle. I dove out of the way of another explosive and was met with his knee as it smashed into my nose. I my head snapped back as I fell and was met with his fist as he punched me down into the floor. I heard the floor crack beneath me, but that sound wasn't nearly as bad or terrifying as the snap that sounded in my mind. _My turn, sister dear._ My eyes went wide with fright at that voice and rolled out of the way of another punch before I jumped up into a crouch. I felt a burning pain in my skull and clutched at my head as the infection started spreading from my arm to every other part of my body, my mouth open in a silent scream. I curled into a ball on the ground and tried to suppress the spread, but it was no use. "I'm sorry, Jasper." I whispered as the infection continued to spread, the pain knocking me out and leaving me with a broken promise.

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I was finally free!!! I jumped to my feet and reveled in my new body, looking at the shining living metal I was incased in with an enigmatic smile. I looked up to see the dragon getting up from his blow to the floor and danced over to him, my entire body blooming with newfound energy and life. I kicked out at the spot where his head had been a split second before and caught his punch before it could reach my head. I turned to face him and let the pointed helm that covered my head retreat back into my armor as I tilted my head in his direction.

"What are you?" He asked in a scathing voice as he ripped his fist from my grip. I shrugged my shoulders and laughed manically as I brushed some of my hair from my face and walked away from him with a nonchalant flip of my paw. "Don't you recognize me, monsieur dragon? I'm still the same vixen you know and love, just a little bit more improved." I said as I ducked under another one of his punches and danced away from him, my hair flailing in the breeze behind me. He disappeared for a second and kicked me into a wall, but I flipped and landed feet first. I dropped to the ground with a light thud and felt my arms start to tingle.

"Ooooooooooh. So this is what it feels like to have electricity running through your body. It's so enjoyable! You wanna feel?" I asked innocently as I sent bolts of black lightning towards him, laughing gleefully as I discharged them everywhere. I never wanted this feeling to end; the constant flow of energy coursing through me was ever so pleasurable. I was about to launch another flurry when the dragon caught my arm from behind and threw me across the room with a flick of his wrist. I crashed into a chair and flipped with it until it came to rest on all four legs with me sitting in it cross-legged.

"I don't care what kind of abomination you are, _vixen_, you're still going to bend to my will eventually." The dragon growled angrily as he looked at me. I giggled giddily at the prospect of more fighting and shook my head. "Someone's getting cranky. Did monsieur dragon miss his nap?" I asked in a babying tone. I watched a fly flitter by and followed it with my head, humming disjointedly while I waited for something to happen. The dragon appeared infront of me and picked me up out of the chair by my neck, cold fury sparking in his eyes.

"You have very pretty eyes when your angry, mister dragon." I commented sweetly as I kicked out of his grip. I flipped over the chair like a gymnast and kicked it towards him when I landed. The chair flew two feet before it burst into flames, falling short of the dragon by a good inch or two. I laughed happily and clapped my hands as he looked at me again over the flaming remains of the chair, his eyes no longer angry but calm. I didn't like the look. I folded my arms over my chest and stared suspiciously at him before I doubled over in pain, the shock from it pitching me forward onto the ground.

"Argghhh… what… what the hell… ARGGHHH!!!!" I groaned painfully as I clutched my stomach. I steadied myself with a paw and vomited all over the floor infront of me, my body flexing and cringing as I fell to my side. I gasped painfully and shivered as my flesh started crawling underneath the armor. It felt as if someone were lighting my insides on fire and slowly pulling every bone in my body out of me.

"It seems that the vixen has finally reached her limit. Good thing, too, or else I might've had to kill such a fascinatingly creative creature." The dragon speculated as he stepped lively towards me, the fire licking at his cloak without burning it. He kicked my stomach with his sharp claws, cracking the armor around my ribcage and snapping some of my ribs in the process. I whimpered in pain and let the facemask-like helm cover my head again, not giving him the satisfaction of seeing me broken like this. I scrabbled at the ground desperately as he grabbed my head in between his strong paw and lifted me off the ground, my legs kicking out underneath me in an attempt to get away. I was panicking and I was grateful that he couldn't see my eyes bulging out of my head or the way they were darting back and forth.

"You know, I wasn't all to thrilled when I found out that you'd left your room, vixen. But now, I couldn't be happier. It gave me the perfect opportunity to see how well you reacted to desperation and how your 'affliction' faired in combat. I'd say you even got perfect marks." The dragon hissed close to my ear as his grip tightened around my head with each word he spoke, his claws cracking easily through the armor. I fought against his grip with every ounce of strength I had in me, but the stress he was putting on my body was taking its toll. My concentration started slipping gradually as chunks of my infection started falling off of my body; small ones at first, but more and more fell onto the floor until all that was left was my arm and my helmet. Soon, even that crumbled into the pile on the floor under my still feet and his claws began digging into my head, blood easily trickling past his fingers and down onto the floor. All that fire, that boundless energy I'd felt before left me as _she _started fighting back to gain control of her body. That was fine with me. It wasn't fun anymore and I didn't want to feel the pain that he was going to inflict, fearing how much it was going to hurt. I let a half-crazed smile grace my face and with a laugh, gave her back her body, having had my fun for the time being and was content with sleep.

I felt a piercing pain in my skull and tried to wrench my head from it, but the pain disappeared as instantly as it had appeared. I was dropped unceremoniously onto the floor and landed on some sharp and jagged, cutting into my flesh and making me bleed even more. I gasped and panted to try and get some air into my lungs, but they didn't seem to want to work right. I staggered upright and felt a light breeze brush through my hair from behind, accompanied by a soft, almost translucent blue glow that shadowed the ground infront of me. I felt the dragon's foot connect with my ribs again and was sent flying through whatever was behind me, though it did feel as if I had been dropped into a freezing cold pond. The last thing I heard before I'd gone to far and the breeze turned into a howling wind that wanted to rip me apart, was the dragon's harsh laugh. I cringed and was flung backwards even faster, my eyes screwed shut against the now bright light. _I'm going to die? Really!?!?!? After all the shit I've been through, the almost eight near death experiences I've suffered through the years, I'm going to die in a giant, blue tunnel. Oh, that's just fucking great! At least be more creative about it!_

**I owe Sonic Fox thanks for using his characters (not done with them yet) and thanks to all my loyal readers. Chapter six will be up whenever inspiration strikes and I might just bring back Axel. Who knows? Review and God bless. And just to be random, the game Okami is the shit!!! **


	6. Part 6: Boderlands

I was startled when the howling wind stopped whipping around me and I actually felt ground beneath me, well, loose sandy ground anyway. The bright light was still there and it beat against my eyelids as if it were trying to burn them. I lay there, my breathing still erratic from my trip and the fight with the dragon, trying to quell the joy exploding through my pessimistic heart. I was still alive! _Take that, Death! I'm untouchable. Eight to zero, baby! Eight to z-e-r-o!_ I yelled triumphantly in my head as I started feeling the humidity that was setting down onto my fur, making it stick close to my flesh. I cut my celebration short when I heard a stick crack nearby underfoot and came crashing back down to reality: I was alone somewhere with no food or means of contact, thanks in part to that stupid, chauvinistic dragon. I snapped my eyes open and was greeted with the muzzle of a blaster. Even with my limited knowledge of all things gun, I knew that it wasn't a Cornerian make, nor was it Venomian. The barrel was elongated with a small light at the bottom and had black casing around it that led to the handle, while a small pair of iron sights ornamented the tip and end of the blaster. I stared at the barrel for a second before looking past to the anthro wielding it, hoping to find some semblance of familiarity, but couldn't see past the facemask they were wearing.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll keep your hands were I can see them." A distinctly feminine voice commanded as she pushed her blaster down onto the gap between my eyes. I raised my hands above my head with an incredulous look on my face and was shocked to find handcuffs getting slapped onto my wrists.

"Hey, what's the hell are these things for?" I asked defensively, not really in the mood for getting arrested by someone I didn't even know on a planet that, as far as I knew, I hadn't done anything wrong on. I heard the hum blaster charging up a shot and decided it might be in my best interests to keep my mouth shut for a while. I felt a boot get shoved down onto my chest to keep me on the ground and glared angrily at the anthro that had yet to give me an answer. She pulled off her protective facemask and I was almost shocked to see a blue furred vixen glaring back at me, her blue hair blowing in the breeze as she stuffed the facemask into her back pocket. She kept her blaster trained on me and ground her boot into my chest before stepping off, letting me breathe again while my face tried to pick an expression. I picked anger to unleash on this unsuspecting anthro and narrowed my eyes dangerously at her white furred face.

"What the hell, Krystal?! What'd I ever do to you?" I growled angrily as I struggled against the handcuffs, sparks flying off of my right wrist as it ground against the steel. The vixen stared at me as if I were crazy and looked at me closely for the first time before kneeling down next to me. "What did you call me?" She asked in a shocked whisper. I glared at her and clenched my teeth as my left wrist caught on an edge in the cuff and got deeply cut. I ignored it and stared back at her, my hands moving furiously against the cuffs I'd been wrongfully stuck in.

"You heard what I called you, Krystal, now answer my damn question: Why the hell did you put these handcuffs on me?!" I nearly yelled at her before giving up on the cuffs with an aggravated growl and slumped defeatedly onto the ground. The blue furred vixen looked as if she'd seen a ghost when she stared at me and cupped my cheeks in her gloved paws to get a long look into my eyes with her amethyst colored eyes. I found myself quickly becoming less angry as I looked into them and wondered what was going on. My body seemed less tense when she let go of my face and I saw the faintest hint of a smile on her face when she looked back at me.

"First off, my name isn't Krystal, its Bella, so get it right or don't say it at all. Second, I put you in cuffs because you're on my land and I can do whatever the hell I please. Thirdly…." Bella trailed off as she looked down at my right arm, the infection glinting in the sunlight. She was about to say something about it when a deafening roar split through the clear sky. She looked up, her eyes full of anxious energy as she turned in the direction of the sound and put her paw on the compacted staff on her back. I was still calm, but the effect was wearing off and I was starting to get anxious as well.

"Ummm…Bella, what—" Her paw muffled the rest of my sentence as she continued to stare somewhere to my right. I couldn't see what she was looking at, but she seemed to relax slightly when whatever it was seemed to leave. She looked back down at me and pulled me roughly onto my feet with a quick tug at the middle of the cuffs before unlocking them and stuffing them in her pocket. She stared at me wonderingly for a few seconds and flashed me a quick grin before looking out to the west, where slight gusts of wind were coming from. I looked with her and saw the fading tracks of some massive beast heading in that direction. I didn't even want to know what could've made those tracks, but my curiosity was a very overpowering thing. I looked back at Bella with my maw open to ask, but she was already walking towards a nearby sand dune, leaving me standing there like an idiot. _I'll get her back for that one._ I thought as I jogged after her, glad that I'd grabbed a thin shirt with the heat bearing down on me as it was. She stopped at the crest of the dune to wait for me and pulled out a set of keys from her pocket, adrenaline burning in her eyes as she looked at me. I wondered what the keys went to and mentally rolled my eyes at my apparent idiocy. She jumped down to the other side of the dune and I heard a quiet, metallic thud that was closely followed by the sound of an engine gunning to life. I quickly followed her over the dune and angled my drop so I wouldn't hit whatever it was that Bella had jumped down into. I landed with a roll to soften the impact and sprung to my feet to stop myself from rolling off a cliff that was almost immediately behind the dune. I struggled to keep my footing and fell backwards onto my butt when I overcompensated, my head hitting a massive, black tire. I rubbed my head and got onto my feet, using the tire as a support, and marveled at the dune buggy that Bella was sitting in. The chassis and roll cage were painted in the same color as the sand that stood behind it, as were the panels that covered the wheel wells and exhaust. The wheels had spikes coming up out of the material for better traction and fog lamps bolted to the grill for driving in the dark, although in a desert like this, the moon would probably provide enough light for you anyway if you weren't in a cave. The front and back of the buggy were equipped with heavy energy rifles that were mounted on almost invisible pivots that allowed them to swing in whatever direction the target was in. I stared in awe at the vehicle I was going to be riding in and barely caught the goggles that Bella'd thrown at me.

"Better put those own. Dust storms are really nasty on this planet. Besides, seeing as you don't pose a threat to me, I might as well be hospitable and show you around." She called out over the snarl of the engine as she revved it gently. I hurriedly took my seat next to her and fit the goggles over my eyes as she shifted into drive and gunned it forward, sending us speeding through the sand. I stared out to my right and saw the long drop that awaited anyone dumb enough to not pay attention to where they were going. Far below us was a deep valley littered with rocks, wrecked star cruisers and even more wrecked buggies. Scattered among the twisted heaps of metal and rock were small, moving specks that made odd, guttural noises that I had to strain to pick up. I couldn't tell what the creatures were, but I didn't want to think of what they could do to someone if they ever caught up with them.

"Stalkers. Stupid scavengers, like to mess with stuff that doesn't belong to 'em, but can't hold their own in a fight." Bella pointed out as she saw me looking into the gorge. Her voice caught me off guard and I jumped slightly in my seat before I remembered that she was in the buggy with me. I nodded and went back to staring when I noticed a cloud of dust in the gorge, bearing down quickly on a group of Stalkers that had congregated around a massive battle class Cornerian cruiser that had gaping holes in the hull and was half buried in the sand; giving it a strange, almost serene presence in such a mechanical graveyard. The Stalkers fled in a hurry and made for a cave not far away from the ship, chirping and groaning in terror to each other, making me wonder at the level of their intelligence. _They seem to be able to talk to each other through a series of clicks and groans_._ I don't see the point in harming a creature with that high an intellect. _I thought asthe dune buggy quickly followed them into the cave, much to Bella's distaste. She swore angrily and shoved her foot down onto the pedal harder, making us jet forward and completely clear a dune she'd launched us off of. I clenched my teeth as we hit the ground again and was almost knocked out of the buggy before I remembered to strap myself in. I quickly tied myself into the harness and sighed with relief as we continued to speed across the desert landscape, occasionally getting shot into the air by errant dunes, but for the most part I enjoyed myself. The sun was moving slow across the sky and more than once I found myself looking up at it, wondering if the orbit this planet was slower than Corneria's.

"So… what's your name? It's usually common courtesy to tell someone your name in return for theirs." Bella asked loudly. I mulled the thought over in my head if I should use a fake name or my name, but I didn't want to lie to someone who'd been this trustworthy of me so far. So, I decided on the truth. "It's Hazel." She seemed accepting of the name and didn't talk for the rest of the drive, her eyes occasionally darting to my right arm and back to the desert ahead of us before I could catch her staring. I didn't pay her to much attention, but I kept the fact in my head incase this sort of thing was a rare find.

The wind started picking up as we left the dunes behind and started traveling across a large salt flat, nothing noticeable on the horizon or around us. By then, the sun had only moved a mile in the endless hours we'd been driving and it was getting incredibly hot. I was sweating underneath my clothes and I was sure that Bella was too, but she didn't show any form of discomfort. She let go of the wheel for a second and shrugged out of her jacket before shoving it behind her into a bag attached to her seat. She wore tank top that was cut off at midriff and had a similar style to it like the half shell bikini top that Krystal had given to me awhile back. I ignored the compulsion to head down memory lane and kept my gaze fixed ahead of me, the image of her well-sculpted breasts nestled nicely in her shirt burned into my head. I stared off into the distance and saw a buggy coming towards us extremely fast from the right. As it got closer, I could pick out the silhouettes of a driver and a gunner sitting directly behind them with their turret pointed at us.

"Ummm…. Bella. I think someone might be here to see you." I noted as the buggy continued on its way, only to swerve away from us and start driving parallel with our buggy, even though they were at least thirty feet away. The turret gunner turned in his rotating gunnery post and started unloading at something that was chasing them, throwing in a few swear words along the way while an angry roar answered him. I cringed unintentionally at the sound and heard Bella laugh as she watched my reaction.

"What's wrong, Hazel? First time seeing a firefight?" She laughed as I nodded, kept in rapt attention by what the other buggy was doing. Or rather, what it was trying to do. The buggy was trailing smoke now, the gunner lying limp against the side of the buggy with various rips through his chest while the driver was trying desperately to escape whatever it was that continued to harass him. It only took all of four seconds for a mammoth-sized beast to rip through the small buggy and send the occupants flying into the air, their arms and legs flopping around like ragdolls while the beast tore apart the buggy with its massive claws and teeth. When it was satisfied with what it had done, it looked up and turned its gaze onto our speeding buggy, it's red eyes glaring death at us as it loosed another roar. It's wings unfurled on its back and it took off to give chase, its wings riddled with rapidly closing bullet holes from the last fight. If I thought it looked destructive on foot, it definitely looked downright apocalyptic in flight. Its teeth and claws were stained a permanent dried crimson from the blood of its foes while a fresh coating of oil was dripping from its muzzle and trailing on the ground behind it. I felt my blood run cold as it's stare seemed to bore its way into my mind and found that I couldn't tear my gaze free from its. I felt a sharp, acute stab of pain hit the base of my skull and tasted blood in my mouth as a presence invaded its way into my mind.

"_What are you doing on my planet, Rapturian? Your kind hasn't been here for over a century and I don't intend on having your filth back here to wipe out more of my race! Leave now or I might decide to devour you instead of letting you die and have an honorable burial someplace else."_ The alien voice boomed heavily in my head, making me scream in pain. I tried to repel the creature from my head, but it was persistent with trying to kill me from the brain down. I coughed up some blood onto my shirt and was thinking of sending a severe shock through my head to end the pain, but the creature predicted that and screwed with the neural pathways between my arm and my brain so that it went limp at my side. The giant beast was already hovering above us, waiting for me to die or just relishing the thought that he would have the chance to kill another Rapturian, I couldn't be sure, but I didn't want to have Bella suffer for whatever my race had done to warrant this kind of hatred. I forced my right arm up against the creature's control and lifted my left arm until it was pointed, palm out, towards the monster's fleshy looking underbelly. I felt my arm tingle with energy as the charge traveled to my paw, but my brain was taking a mental battering against its onslaught to try and stop me. When the charge was big enough to short circuit an unarmed mech, I clenched my teeth and shot the bolt from my hand. It collided with its stomach in a clash of sparks and the smell of burning flesh assaulted my nose as its consciousness ripped away from mine with a pained roar. I coughed more blood and heard Bella swearing as she saw the state I was in, but the giant shadow looming over us cut her sentence short. I barely looked up to see the creature plummeting towards the ground, the blood flowing out of its stomach and onto the ground in giant puddles while its wings were trying desperately to keep it airborne. When its wings failed and slumped exhaustedly against its sides, the massive creature fell to the ground with a deafening boom, sending dust and debris flying everywhere. Bella shoved her foot down on the brake and skid the buggy to a halt to survey the damage I'd done to the monster.

"I've never seen anyone take down a bull Scarbora of that size single handedly, and with lightning shooting out of their paws no less! I can't believe you didn't tell me you could do that before… hey, where ya goin'?" She asked as I struggled against my harness. I finally got out of the stupid thing and dragged myself out of the buggy with my right arm, gingerly keeping from moving my left arm too much. I stumbled towards the monster with a clenched jaw as fragments of it's consciousness drifted into my brain the closer I got to it. The stench of it's blood hit me full on as I grabbed onto one of the horns protruding from its head to keep myself from falling over and started breathing through my mouth to keep the smell from making me vomit.

"_Why… why have you come back to me? Haven't you done enough damage already by forsakening me to die?" _The Scarbora seethed as he shook his head to dislodge my paw from his horn. I sank to my knees infront of his face and grabbed my left wrist so I could place my paw on his massive forehead. "I don't know if you can understand me, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry for whatever my race has done to you and your kind, but that is a vendetta that I cannot adhere to nor will I take part in it. I have done nothing wrong to you for you to hate me and neither have you done the same to me. I'm not tied to whatever fate I've inherited, for I don't have a single ounce of animosity towards you." I didn't know what else to say at that point, for I found myself lost in the pain and misery that I was seeing in the Scarbora's eyes as well as the memories he was sending into my mind. There was death everywhere; bodies of Scarbora and Rapturians littered the ground while others continued to fight with no regard to limb or blood loss. There seemed only a single-minded desire to kill the creatures that were invading his homeworld. I watched through his eyes as his family and brethren were killed for protecting their caves and land. I watched his nestmate get overwhelmed by many of my species and get taken away in chains, her muzzle bloodied and her soft, rose hued eyes staring mournfully at him as she thrashed away against her captors. When the memory ended, tears were coming down the sides of my face while a wave of understanding washed through me.

"That's why you attacked me as you did. I had no idea my race was so violent." I whispered painfully as I stared down at my blinding right arm as it reflected the sun's light back into my eyes. He blinked at me once and made a deep, rumbling sound in the back of his throat, as if he were trying to clear his esophagus of something. He kept the thrumming note going for over a minute before he belched a black ball of fire onto the ground infront of him, crackling soundlessly as he lay his head back down with a satisfied look on his face. I felt its warmth even in the stifling heat and was comforted by it; my body accepting the gentle heat as if it were a cool breeze. As the flames flickered and burned on some of the salt in the ground, I was greeted with another batch of memories; happy ones of him and his nestmate flying together in the sky, spending time with one another, taking care of the egg that would be their child, doing things that made them feel as if they belonged with each other. I felt that I didn't deserve to see these memories of his life, but he continued to show me, as if trying to give me something that would help me to understand what he was. I was so wrapped up in what the Scarbora was showing me that I didn't notice the light grip someone had on my shoulder. I turned slightly to my right to see Bella standing behind me, a careful look in her eyes as she stared at me, the look asking what I was doing. Before I could give her a response, the Scarbora heaved a deep, raspy breath as he tried to get my attention. I turned back in time to watch him open his maw slightly and spew a continuous stream of black flame onto my infected arm from the corner of his mouth. I jerked my other arm back to avoid being burned, but as I watched the flames lick at my arm, I noticed that the giant crack was filling out and the other rough patches on my arm were getting smoothed out. I also felt his connection with my mind start to slip away as he continued to exert himself to give me a last gift, and I wanted to stop him, but the look in his eyes deterred me from intervening.

"_Rapturian, I was moved by your words today and I am glad that I get to take them to my grave. I give you my memories and my gift of flame as compensation for all of the atrocities that I have made you endure. It is with hope that you spread these memories and let all who ask of the once great Scarbora race, masters of the sky and rulers of the land, know that I passed on in peace. May your journey be successful, young furred one, and let the wind give you strength." _The Scarbora thought quietly as his life ebbed away and he lay his head down onto the ground. I watched as the fire twisted around my arm and slowly sunk into it, giving it a slightly brighter glow as well as an extremely smooth feel. Both Bella and I watched in silence as the last Scarbora died in peace, flying high in the sky with all his dead friends and hopefully reuniting with his nestmate. I dried the tears from my eyes and felt not only the weight of my memories, but his as well, swirling around in my head as I stood up and turned to face Bella. I don't know what it was, but something made me feel as if I were older in more ways than one.

"Where are we headed now, Bella?" I asked as I stared back at the buggy. She didn't answer me at once, but stood there in a daze as she looked back at me. Then she composed herself and gave a heavy sigh as she nodded towards the west. "We keep going the way we were. Should be able to make it to where we're going in a few hours if there aren't any other 'holdups' along the way." She answered as we walked back over to the buggy, leaving the Scarbora where he lay and the black flame still burning, standing as a testament to what used to be.

Neither of us said much of anything during the next few hours. Bella kept to her own thoughts while I relived what memories the Scarbora had given me. I frequently found myself marveling at his history as well as being mystified as to why my race was so intertwined with his. At times, our two races coexisted together without so much as a cross word, but at others, there was bloodshed caused by something that seemed insignificant when both races could benefit from each other so well. I felt a warm sensation in my infected arm that pulsed in time with my heart beat, but ignored the urge to allow my curiosity get the better of me and play with my new power. The salt flat stayed the same for majority of the trip, but that didn't bother me too much. The sky was beginning to darken finally when we reached the crest of a hill that led into a valley that was covered in lush greenery where the air seemed to become less arid and moister. I took in a deep breath and almost gagged on the terrible smell that was wafting up from the trees and flora. Bella laughed again and pulled two face guards from her pack before putting hers over her mouth. I quickly did the same and instantly was relieved to be able to breathe normally again. She drove down into the valley and found a path that had already been cut a long time ago, making it a lot faster for us to get through the lush forest. Before we made it to the other side, a series of groans reached my ears before the sound reached Bella's and I could hear the Stalkers following us from the safety of the forest trees, their paws beating softly against the soil as they easily stayed with us. I couldn't see what they looked like, but a voice seemed to get into my head that sounded fearful and full of panic. _"Beware, Rapturian, this planet is not what it appears to be."_ The Stalker warned before the entire pack drove deeper into the forest. I stared after the fleeting forms and wondered what they meant by that. Before I could ponder it any farther, Bella stomped her boot down onto the accelerator and sent us rocketing through some bushes and into the open desert again. I pulled my face guard off as soon as we were upwind of the forest and took in a deep breath of desert air before sighing heavily. I heard my stomach growl and almost asked if we were there yet when Bella suddenly slammed on the brakes. The buggy skidded a few feet in the sand before coming to a rest in the middle of the desert. Her face looked grim as she got out of the still running buggy and walked forward till she was infront of the buggy. She reached her paw out and I watched as it disappeared in thin air with a ripple effect on the surrounding space. She pulled it out satisfied and got back into the buggy, her face looking even sadder as she sat there.

"Hazel… I'm going to do something that might make you hate me for the rest of your life. Do you trust me to get you out of the situation before things get bad?" She asked heavily as she gripped the steering wheel till the tips of her claws poked through her gloves. I nodded my head and wondered if this was what the Stalkers were talking about. Bella looked over at me with a torn look on her face and drove through the still rippling shield that made up a cloaking device, not another word spoken between us.

When we passed through the cloaked gateway, I thought about bailing for it then and there, but I felt as if I needed to stay. Ahead of us were a few archways and lit torches that burned with enough brightness to rival that of the desert sun, but they cast an eerie glow on everything the light touched. We drove underneath each arch and I heard Bella growl uneasily as she drove out into the open, where a somewhat tinted kind of sunlight greeted us. All around us were anthros of different species; talking loudly to each other, bartering for food and other things. I caught more than one pair of eyes staring at my right arm, and I was beginning to become self-conscious of it. There were merchant stands everywhere, pushed up along side buildings, hanging from the buildings themselves, but no matter where I looked, I couldn't seem to find a sort of method to all this madness. Bella took a sharp left and left behind the busy main street for a darker, more secluded alley that was wide enough for her buggy to fit in comfortable without scratching or knocking down anything. She let up on the gas and let us coast for a while till we emerged from the alley, where she gunned it down the tree lined drive and drove towards an enormous mansion. There were steeples that had been added to it, giving it the feel of a church, but the lack of anthros here made me a little on edge. I spotted a few birds flitting about, but other than that and the sound of the buggy's engine, the place was utterly quiet. I strained to hear anything, but all I got in return were a few moans and some desperate pleas for mercy. I didn't like this place at all. Bella drove up to a massive entryway that was bared by a few armed guards and drifted to a stop just infront of the nearest one. She cut the engine and grabbed her jacket from her pack before giving me a meaningful look and stepping out of the buggy.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. I have a present for your employer and I don't think he'd like to wait very long to 'play' with it." She said in a foreign tongue that was probably for the guards as she put her jacket back on. I understood her perfectly, although I don't know how, and shivered when she said the word _play_. The guards nodded after a few more minutes of speaking and opened the doors to let her through. She gave her thanks to the six Doberman and gestured for me to follow her. I got up out of the buggy hesitantly and followed her quickly; not wanting to be left alone with six very bored looking guards. As we walked into the dark hallway, the doors were closed almost immediately and I heard the boom echo down into the darkness. I heard the click of handcuffs as Bella put them around my wrists again and I didn't struggle for fear of what I was being used for, but when she fit a collar around my neck and pulled tightly on the lead for me to follow, I knew exactly what the plan was now.

"Your selling me off as a pet, aren't you?" I asked in a saddened voice, finding everything that had happened today seemed to fit neatly into place as the realization hit. When she didn't answer, I knew I was right. Why else would she have kept me along for so long? I sighed defeatedly and dragged my feet along against the pull of the lead, forgetting that I could easily escape with just a well-placed shock. She pushed open a door on the right and walked me into a brightly lit room with a stream trickling underneath a small bridge that led to a high backed chair that was raised on stage. There were also plants and other things floating in the brook, but I paid more attention to the sound of the stream than my surroundings as I saw, with a humorless chuckle, the irony in the situation.

"From one prison to another." I muttered under my breath. I watched Bella's body tense up when I said that and knew this would plague her for a while. She stopped at the foot of the stairs that led to the high backed chair and dragged harshly on the lead to make me stumble forward so that I was standing ahead of her. "I'm sorry for dragging you into this, Hazel. I couldn't see any other way and this'll help keep him off of me for a while. I'll come back for you; trust me…." She trailed off quietly as a door opened to the right and a panther walked out onto the stage, his flowing blue robes keeping most of his body from view except for his face, which made me almost snap the lead and kill him on the spot now. He took a spot behind and a little to the right of the high backed chair before the actual anthro of the hour came out. He was garbed in a sparkling white tunic and matching breeches while a black cape billowed out behind him as he walked to take his place in the chair. He had an impressive broadsword on his hip that was sheathed in a satin looking scabbard that was adorned with gold leaf swirls and jewels embedded in each little circle that the swirls made. He was impressively built and looked to be in his late twenties, but that was a given by the way he looked at me like an object of lust rather than a woman who deserved respect. He yawned heavily and held out his paw for something and closed it around the tied end of the sack that the panther held out for him.

"So, Bella, I see you've found someone who might actually satisfy me for more than a few days." The wolf said in a bored, almost slurred voice with a heavy accent. I fought the urge to punch him in the face and stood there like the helpless, frightened vixen I was portraying, my eyes kept to the floor. Bella nodded once and took a silent step forward so that she was next to me. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see that she was clenching her jaw against the same feelings I was having.

"So it seems, Alexander, so it seems. About the matter of my payment…." She trailed off as she looked at the sack in Alexander's paw. He tossed it with a lazy flick of his wrist and she caught without looking winded. She dropped the lead and with a last look at me, turned towards the door. I stared after her and felt a breeze hit my chest as someone lifted up my top. I looked back to see that the panther was already standing infront of me, appraising the size of my breasts as if he were looking at jewelry. "Hey—" I started to say when the panther slapped me across the face. The slap barely hurt, but the humiliation from it made my cheeks burn an angry red through my black fur. I felt the tingle run down my arm again, but I reigned in the energy flow and clenched my paw into a tight fist to keep from striking him back.

"You won't speak unless spoken to first, vixen. It is a great disrespect for pets to talk in Alexander's or my own presence without being told to otherwise. Do I make myself clear?" He spat angrily in my face. I nodded dumbly and looked away as he went back to looking at my chest, prodding it every now and then with his claws or squeezing my breasts to make sure they were just right for his 'master'. I looked back at Alexander and saw that he'd left, leaving me here with the perverted panther. I wondered where he went when the panther picked the lead up off of the floor and tugged on it harshly, taking me by surprise when he started pulling me up the stairs to the chair. He sat down in it and forced me onto my knees before tilting my chin up so that I could look him in his bright yellow eyes.

"Now, I want you to do something for me." The panther said in a commanding voice, though I could hear a slight hint of nervousness in it. He moved his robes around until his half emerged member was staring me in the face, already slick as if someone had done this before I had. I huffed noisily through my teeth as I glared up at him as if he were actually serious. He gulped loudly and grasped a pawful of my hair before shoving my head down onto his cock, taking me by surprise. He held my head there as his cock started getting bigger in the warm confines of my mouth and pulled my head back just to shove it back down again. He was forcing me to give him a blowjob. I struggled against the handcuffs I was in so I could force him to suck his own cock and see how he liked it, when he groaned and made me pull off his slick member with a rough yank. He came as soon as his dick was out of my mouth and sprayed his hot, pungent seed all over my face. _Wow, he came only after six thrusts. _I noted as he covered his throbbing member with his robes. He sat there for a few seconds to get his erection under control before he stood and grabbed my lead. "Now we get you cleaned up for Alexander."

I was beyond angry at this point. This panther was leading me around the palace as if I were just a pet who didn't know how to walk on her own. Every time we passed by someone, he forced me to bow at his or her feet before they moved on and continued to drag me along to who knows where. More often than not, I found myself wanting to burn him alive for making me do this, but my curiosity as to where we were going had more control than my lust for revenge. I did make things difficult for him though. Whenever we passed a lit torch, it would flare to an unimaginable size and startle him. I guessed after the first three times that the Scarbora's gift was doing that, so I didn't complain or laugh. When we finally made it to a small set of double doors, the panther pounded on them and dragged me forward so that I was standing beside him. When the doors opened, awaiting us was a tall dragoness with wavy, sand colored curls that spilled over her shoulders and wearing the same robes as the panther was. Although, unlike the panther, she actually smiled when she saw me and held out her paw for the lead. He gave it to her without a word and stormed off in the other direction, not giving her or me another look. The dragoness gently pulled on the lead and I followed her into a large room that smelled of many different kinds of flowers. There was a large pool in the middle of the room that had wisps of steam coming out of it, so I figured she was going to give me a bath. She unlocked the handcuffs with a key she produced from her sleeve and gently put them down onto the ground before pulling my shirt over my head. I wasn't in the mood for a fight, so I let her continue what she was doing until I was standing naked infront of the bath water. I watched her disrobe as well and stared in amazement as she stood there, her silver scales glittering in the sunlight that was filtering through a window high up on the wall. She stepped into the water and held her paw out for mine with a genuine smile still on her face. I grasped it and gingerly followed her into the water; the warm liquid instantly making my tense body relax and my hesitance fade away. She pulled me slowly into the middle of the bath and cupped some water in her paws before dumping it onto my head, sending it cascading down around me and flattening my hair to my fur.

"What's your name, dear?" The dragoness asked in a motherly voice as she started gently scrubbing out my fur with a washcloth that she'd gotten from somewhere. "Hazel." I answered quietly, wishing I could think of something better than just giving up my real name. She scrubbed in tiny circles on my stomach, making me giggle quietly at the tickling sensation, which made her giggle as well. She scrubbed my breasts in sensual, yet soft motions with her paws as she cleaned me off. I murred happily at the feel of her paws against my breasts and cupped her paws in mine, helping her move lower down my body.

"Well, Hazel, you sure are a feisty vixen, now aren't you?" The dragoness asked in a whisper as she let herself be guided down to my waist. I nodded slightly and felt her lips press against my neck, the smell of strawberries coming from her hair. She moved closer to me until her breasts were pressing against my back and her fingers were softly rubbing my womanhood. I moaned quietly and let my paws fall from hers and into the water with barely a splash. She moved her lips to my cheek and rested her chin on my shoulder while she continued wiping off my body. I felt her paws rub my back and all over until all of the dirt and sand that had accumulated on me since this morning was gone. I was about to grab her paw again so she could go back to what she had been doing before, but she had already grabbed my paw and pulling me out of the water. The faint smell of roses wafted from my fur as she led me the far side of the room before drying me off with a warm towel she'd picked up from off of the bench there. When she was done, she slipped me into an immaculately white robe and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips before she snapped her claws together.

"My names Faith. I hope you fair better than the rest." Faith whispered lightly as several anthros walked into the room from the doors I'd come in through. I didn't know what she meant by that, but the next thing I knew, I was being dragged roughly through the doors by a particularly angry looking tigress and was blindfolded before I could ask where they were taking me.

The blindfold was taken off from over my eyes a little while later, but the scenery of the room I was in was different. I was standing in the middle of a bedroom with a massive, silk laden bed that had curtains of even more silk draped over the sides, keeping the bed itself obscured from view. I didn't know what to expect, so I made my way over to the window and pushed open the glass panes, the cool night air feeling good against my fur. I leaned against the frame and stared up at the starry sky, thinking over what kind of night I'd be in for. I toyed with the lead of my leash and thought about severing it so no one could pull me along again, but I decided against it. _They'd just end up putting another one on me again._ I thought sullenly with a sigh. I shifted my gaze to the full moon high above me and started reciting a few lines from my favorite epic to try and ease the tension in my stomach.

"I shall wait with bated breath and sword held high, forever torn betwixt the desire that would be my undoing and the bliss that would make me whole. My heart yearns for your return; it burns with a passion, pleading for yet another encounter with you. My flesh desires to dance with you once more, yet my spirit is hesitant. Will you break me in twain as you have many times before? Or will you stay and take my blade from me? It is for you, my ill-fated love, which my heart screams for, kills for, and dies for. It knows neither for what it needs nor the consequences of its actions, but only the desire that you have awakened in its depths. Each beat is torture to me without you here to hold me close. Each moment without your warmth is anguish, deep and ripping. Come back to me, my love, so that we may be whole again…." I trailed off as I blinked the tears out of my eyes. _Never ceases to bring me to tears._ I thought wryly as I wiped them away with the back of my paw. I heard the hollow sound of someone clapping and slowly turned my head to see Alexander standing against the open doorway, a smile lighting up his face as he looked at me and closed the door behind him.

"Ahh, Loveless. Act 3, I believe. It is a very touching epic if I do say so myself." He said in a slightly happier voice than the one I'd heard the first time I saw him. He was wearing a pair of silky looking pants and no shirt, giving me a good view of his snow-white torso. I smiled tentatively back and let my eyes wander over to the bed then back to him. He pushed off of the doorframe and walked calmly over to me until he more than a foot away from me. I stared at the glow in his hazelnut brown colored eyes and sighed through my teeth, the sound making a hissing noise as it passed through them. He chuckled gently and lifted up the sleeve covering my infected arm, making the metal glimmer slightly in the moonlight. I tried to pull the sleeve back down, but he beat me to it and grabbed my other paw in his, keeping me immobilized while his smile grew larger.

"I knew there was something special about you when I saw you. You're a Rapturian, aren't you?" Alexander asked excitedly. I stared up at him in shock, not really knowing what to say to his claim. I shook my head and cringed when he shoved his lips against mine, keeping me to him by clutching my arms to his chest. He pulled away after a few seconds and licked his lips as if to savor the taste of my mouth before letting go of my paws. I shuddered when he did that and felt a slight tug on the lead as he grasped it firmly in his fist. He roughly led me to the bed and grasped me around the shoulders before throwing me onto the silky covers, lust now evident in his eyes as he ripped the robe I was wearing to shreds. He stood up straight and stared at my now naked backside before dropping down onto the floor and shoving his muzzle into my cunt. I held back the moan I wanted to let loose and tried to turn over to kick him off of me, but the way his tongue was lashing around inside of me was sending electric shocks of pleasure shooting through my body. He continued his torture for a while until he started twisting my engorged clit in between his fingers, making me groan through my teeth in defiance. I didn't want to satisfy him, but what my mind wanted and what my body wanted were two different things entirely. He started thrusting his muzzle into me and I moaned loudly as his tongue lapped over my G-spot repeatedly, making me want to grind my hips into his attacking mouth. I came with a scream and drenched his cheeks in my cum, riding out my orgasm while he drank noisily from my pussy. When he'd had his fill, he pulled his muzzle from out of my still leaking cunt and grabbed my lead as he stood. I turned my head to see what he was going to do next, but all I got was his cum soaked face that still burned with a lust that meant he was nowhere near finished with me. He pulled on the lead harshly and made me get up off of the bed before shoving me onto my knees, the bulge in his pants evidence of what he wanted me to do.

"Pull them off, my pet." He commanded in a heavy tone that made me want to obey him, even though my brain fought against the hypnotic voice and tried to get the control of my limbs back. I grasped the waistband of his pants with my paws and yanked them down quickly, his now fully erect ten-inch cock barely touching the tip of my nose. I parted my lips slightly so I could let my tongue play over his sensitive shaft and gave him a long lick on its underside before closing my mouth over the tip. I suckled on him for a little bit before deepthroating him and started bobbing my head up and down on him, my nose touching his stomach each time. He groaned in pleasure when I started fondling his sack with my infected paw, making me redouble my efforts to make him cum. I dragged my tongue up his shaft with a deliberate slowness that made him groan and took my mouth from his cock before pumping it gently with my infected paw, making him jump slightly but moan even louder. I felt his paws grab onto my head and let my arm fall as he shoved my head down as far as it would go onto his dick before he came in the back of my throat, making me gag on his seed. Some of it passed down my throat, but most went exploding out of my mouth and back down onto his crotch. He held me there for what seemed to be a few minutes and when he let go of my head, some of his cum was dribbling out of my nose and onto the floor. I panted from the way he'd just came in my mouth, but I couldn't find any words to express the way I was feeling.

"Clean it." Alexander said in the same deep voice that made pleasing him the forefront of anything my body should be doing. I licked some of the excess cum from off of his shaft and was rewarded with a late jet of cum that splattered on the bridge of my nose. I ignored it and continued cleaning him off until his dick was dripping with my saliva, much to my irritation. _Why can't I control my body?_ I thought as he tugged on the lead, bringing me back up onto my feet with some of his cum still dripping off my lips. I stared at him with innocent eyes and heard him laugh slightly as he dropped the lead onto the ground, the leather making a quiet thwack when it hit the floor.

"Lie on your back." He told me with a voice barely above a whisper. I did as I was told and lay down on the bed, my paws cupping my breasts while I stared up at him. He chuckled slightly and said something unintelligible before grabbing my hips in his paws and roughly shoving his cock into me. I gasped a little and thrust my hips back into his as he started pumping his member into me, our hips colliding to make a quiet slapping sound. My cunt was already sensitive from my orgasm, but this made my level of pleasure skyrocket as he kept thrusting harder and harder into my tunnel. I heard him moan more than once through that annoying smirk on his face and he thrust his hips into mine once more before he came heavily inside me, making me cum right behind him. The smell in the room was definitely sex, but it smelled worse to my guilt-addled brain. To me, it smelled like betrayal and pain. Alexander pulled his cock from out of me with a grunt, his knot slipping free of my lower lips with a squelching noise. He pulled up his pants and made for the door, his breath coming in slight pants, but he held himself well. He opened the door sluggishly and looked back at me with a smirk that seemed heavily contrasted to the sneer that the dragon had given me in the same sort of situation, albeit without the sex part.

"You'll learn to love it here, Rapturian. And even if you don't, there's nothing you can do about it. I control your every move, so this will become much worse if you don't cooperate. Goodnight." He said with a deadly undertone as he closed the door silently, leaving me with his threat and a sense of disrespect that made me want to vomit violently. I remembered my words from a couple of hours earlier and shivered as whatever influence the wolf had over me worked its way out of my system. _From one prison to another._ I crawled stiffly to the waiting pillows and slipped one of the covers over my shoulders before falling asleep quickly, the memories of the Scarbora rushing around me to take my mind off of Alexander. I snuggled deeper into the warm blanket and let myself drift in the sky with the beings who rightfully owned it.

**So ends chapter six. Longest chapter I've written and glad of it. Hope you guys like it and no ripping off any of the characters in this story ever. Alexander is a douche.**


	7. Part 7: Escape

I flopped down onto the bed exhaustedly, my mouth filled with the taste of Alexander's cum from his latest want. I hated being wrapped around his finger like that, but for some reason, my body didn't want to displease him. I groaned in pain as the brutal pounding I'd been given today finally set in and patted the slight bulge that all the cum I'd drank today had made in my stomach.

"Bella better hope that I don't catch up with her when I get out of here." I growled to myself as I lay there listening to the sounds of the palace around me. There were tons of anthros walking around today, bustling to make some feast for Alexander and some mercenary team he'd asked to take care of a problem for him. _No doubt I'll be offered to them as an outlet for their 'needs'._ I thought sullenly as I continued to listen to the sound of food cooking in the distance as well as the marching of guards doing drills in the courtyard. I heard a commotion outside and the sound of voices shouting made me intrigued as to what was going on. I struggled to me feet and stumbled to my open window to see what was going on. Outside in the garden that was directly below my room, somebody was arguing with someone else, but a tree was blocking my view. That was when I heard Alexander's voice and snarled quietly under my breath, but the sentence of cussing I was about to utter was cut short when I heard a familiar voice try to diffuse the situation.

"Okay, Alexander, we're terribly sorry that we trespassed on this wonderful garden of yours, but with all due respect, there was no warning or sign that stated that we couldn't be here. We didn't mean to cause offense." Fox McCloud's voice rang out. My eyes went wide with excitement at the thought that Starfox was here and a glimmer of hope as to my escape flared up inside my chest. But just as soon as that hope came, it was dashed aside by merciless reality. There wouldn't be anyway that my 'master' would let me anywhere near them or even to wander alone in the palace tonight. I slumped defeatedly against the window sill and felt tears start to well up in my eyes, but a sudden knock at the door brought me back out of the trance of despair I'd fallen in.

"What do you want?" I demanded in a harsh voice, not really wanting to talk to anyone or be taken advantage of today. The door opened slightly and a young looking leopard wearing a white robe that was the same color as mine poked their head into to see me. I stared angrily at the leopard and saw that there was a similar collar around her neck as there was around mine. She was also blindfolded and when she hesitated, someone pushed her roughly into the room. She stumbled across the floor and tripped on the large throw rug in the middle of the room. I watched her stumble for a few seconds and fall onto her hands and knees, wondering if she was in for the same treatment I'd been receiving day in and day out. I hesitantly walked over to the tiny leopard, her sobs making me soften to her, and put my paw on her shoulder. She jerked away from me and tried to back away from my touch.

"Please don't hurt me. I haven't done anything wrong. Please, I beg of you, leave me alone." She cried as she backed away until she was against the wall, her tears soaking the blindfold someone had put on her. I didn't know what to say to that, some maternal instinct in me seemed to kick in just there and I continued on my way towards her. She cringed with each step I took and shied away from me when I put my paw against her face. I carefully took the blindfold from over her eyes and let it dangle from around her neck while I stared into her ocean blue eyes, trying to work out what could've possessed Alexander to bring her here; she was barely sixteen. I brushed a lock of her goldenrod hair from out of her eyes and gave her a comforting smile to let her know that I wasn't a threat.

"I won't hurt you nor will I let anyone hurt you. You're safe here with me, little girl. I'll make sure of that." I told her in a quiet voice. She nodded fearfully and gave me a small smile as she tried to calm down. "Could you not call me little girl, my name is Michelle." She said quietly as she looked around at the big room. I laughed a little at the way her tone changed from frightened to reassured so easily. "Okay, Michelle, my names Hazel. Could you tell me what's going on outside?"

Michelle looked back at me with incredulous look on her face before she realized I wasn't joking. "They're all getting things ready for the annual feast of the Scarbora. Every year, Alexander and his best hunters go out into the desert to find the biggest, strongest Scarbora there is, kill it, and bring it back here to feast upon." She explained in a matter-of-fact voice. I must've frozen up because Michelle was calling my name in a worried voice before I finally registered what she said. "But there are no Scarbora left. I saw the last one die infront of me. I shared his dying thoughts; he was the last of his kind. Unless…." I trailed off as realization struck me like a gunshot. The only way for there to be a Scarbora feast is if they have a Scarbora to kill. The bull Scarbora I'd killed had shown me his nestmate being taken away by my race, but that didn't necessarily mean that she was killed. She could be trapped somewhere or if the hunters that had captured her had a change of heart and let her go, she's probably still roaming this planet in search for her mate. I didn't want to think of what was going to happen, but the effect it was having on my mind was a very disturbing thing. It felt as if I were going to lose a love when she died, a true love that was going to be missed for the rest of your life.

"Hazel, please talk to me." Michelle begged as she stared into my blank eyes. She grabbed my shoulder to shake it when the door was opened and Alexander walked in, closely followed by his advisor, the perverted panther. He eyed us sitting in the corner like we were talking about something and opened his mouth to say something, when the sound of a familiar engine ripped through the air. I recognized the sound instantly as Bella's buggy and was snapped out of my daze by the roar. I looked to the window as the sound got closer and smiled inwardly as a plan began to form in my head. Tonight was the night I'd make my escape and Michelle was coming with me. I looked over my shoulder to see Alexander still standing there, but his advisor was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's your perverted advisor, Alexander?" I asked innocently as I ignored the pull to please him. He glowered in my direction and slammed the door behind him as he stormed off. I heard Michelle gasp as if she hadn't been breathing throughout the entire twenty seconds he was in the room and turned to see her panting heavily. She had a paw underneath her robes and she was playing with herself furiously. I stared in shock as to what she was doing and realized that he did have a hold over her body, or rather the want to feel pleasure. I grabbed her arm to stop her, but she growled at me and took a swipe at my face with her other paw. I caught it easily and glared back at her as her breathing kept coming out in pants. Her eyes were dull compared to how bright they had been earlier and her personality had changed severely. I didn't know what to make of it, but she continued to struggle against me until I let her go and went back to pleasuring herself until she came all over the floor with a loud moan, her sweet scent filling the room. I stared at her until she was finished and the luster had returned to her eyes before hugging her close to me. She tried to push back, but her arms were weak against me and she just let me hug her. I let go of her and glowered at the wall above her head before getting off my knees and moving to the bed.

"What's wrong Hazel?" Michelle asked in the same worried tone she'd used when I'd zoned out, but I ignored the question and just pointed at the puddle of her fluids underneath her. I lay back down on the bed and closed my eyes so that I could block out all other noise but my breathing, desperately needing to relax and calm down before I did something I'd regret. I heard Michelle climb up on the bed with me and curl up beside me, the smell of her orgasm still pungent and clung to her like a second fur. I opened my eyes slightly to see her eyes staring expectantly into mine.

"What is it, Michelle, don't like being a slave to your desires? Trust me, it only gets worse before it ever gets better." I muttered darkly as I remembered the past few days and what Alexander had me do for him and his friends. I heard her breath catch in her throat as the door opened again, but it wasn't Alexander who was standing there, or anyone from as far as I could see. "Man, wrong again. I'm never gonna find the bathroom in this stupid place." A high-pitched croak complained as whoever it was stared into the room. I sat up to get a better look and saw Slippy Toad standing there with his legs crossed and a pained expression on his face. He was wearing his red baseball cap and a flight vest colored in blue and white along with some jeans. We stared at each other for a second before recognition flashed across his face and a big grin split his face in half. "Hazel… is that you?"

I nodded once and leapt off the bed to give the frog a big hug, happiness at seeing one of my old friends again blooming in my chest. He hugged me back with his weird, croaking laugh that got me laughing as well. I hugged him tightly a little while longer before remembering who else was in the room with me. I let go of him and turned to see Michelle sitting at the foot of the bed, eyeing Slippy curiously while her paws were folded in her lap. "So, Slippy, what are you and the rest of the team doing here? There has to be something better to do with your time than attend feasts." I asked jokingly, happy to have met a friend in a place like this. Slippy was about answer when the panther showed up as if out of nowhere, his bright yellow eyes glowering with malice. I heard Michelle whimper in fear behind me, but I stared him in the face with a glare of my own. It took me a second to register what was going to happen if I got into a fight with him and I backed down from the challenge with a defeated look in my eyes before giving a wink to Slippy.

"I see you've found the pet's chamber, mercenary. I am sorry if they are not to your liking, but they will be disciplined if they do not learn to behave." The panther said in a barely controlled voice. I bowed my head in apology and was given a swat on the back of my head, making me grimace a little when I heard Michelle gasp in protest. Slippy realized what was going on and kept his mouth shut for the time being, winking back at me so as to convey that he'd tell the others I was here. I heard the panther chuckle and let him push me down onto my knees infront of him without any resistance, knowing that he could have me killed if he chose to. He beckoned for Michelle to come over as well, a grin showing on his smug face. I heard her tentative footsteps against the floor as she did what she was told and took her place near me, her eyes betraying her terror as she wondered what he was going to do.

"As punishment for your outrageous behavior, pet, you are going have sex with this leopard until I say otherwise." The panther said in a deep voice that reminded me of Alexander's, but not as compelling. I resisted the urge to carry out his order, making my breathing strained in the process, but I stayed where I was. He seemed to anticipate that, so he gave the same order to Michelle, who I knew couldn't resist his deep, rich voice. She stiffened for a second and turned her head in my direction, her eyes back to the dull color of a choppy sea. She pounced on me before I had a chance to stop her and crushed her lips against mine, her tongue pushing against my closed mouth so she could wrestle with mine. I tried to push her off me, but her ferocity had caught me off guard and her paws were keeping mine at my side. I had to resist the urge not to shock her off of me and let her do what she wanted with me, my lips parting so that she could wrestle with my tongue. She got off of me, panting for breath as she undid the little tie on the back of my robe to open it, leaving my breasts exposed to the open air. She immediately started sucking on my nipples, lapping at them with her tongue and kneading them in rough circles that made me groan. I kept my eyes closed through the entire thing, not wanting to see the look on Slippy's face or the way Michelle's eyes were dulled into submission by the panther. I felt her fingers rubbing into my slit and kept my mouth clamped shut to keep from moaning when a fanfare sounded somewhere far off. I heard the panther tell Michelle enough and the sound of a door slamming. I opened my eyes hesitantly and saw her staring confusedly at me, her eyes bright again as she looked down at where her paws were.

"I'm so sorry, Hazel. I don't know what came over me." She apologized as she hastily let go of my body, her fingers making me moan slightly when she dragged them away from my wet lower lips. I waved off her apology with a nod and looked over to where Slippy had been standing to find that he was gone as well. I got up gingerly and made my way back to the bed, needing sleep more than anything. As soon as I hit the bed, I was asleep, feeling drained from resisting his hypnotic voice. I felt Michelle lay down next to me, her slow even breaths meaning that she was asleep as well, but I didn't acknowledge her. I was too busy coming up with a plan to escape this nightmarish hellhole and I need all the time I could get.

The next time I woke up, there were anthros filling into my room carrying dresses of different sizes, fabrics, and of increasing reveality. I looked next to me and saw Michelle curled up next to me the bed, her thumb in her mouth while her arm was over my chest. I nudged her till she awoke as well and gave her a smile as I pointed at her thumb. "You suck your thumb?"

Michelle looked at me through sleepy eyes until she realized where she was. She pulled her thumb out of her mouth and wiped on the front of her robe with a shocked expression on her face. I laughed, only to be cut short when a rabbit in a dark blue robe came up to the bed and grabbed my lead with a forceful yank. I jumped off of the bed and nearly tackled him until I saw the guards posted at the doors. The other servants stripped me down out of my robe and started fitting me into different dresses until they chose a black satin two piece gown made of translucent silk that barely left anything to the imagination with a wide, overly ornate collar that rested just above my breast while a soft, cream white belt kept the translucent skirt from falling and kept anyone from seeing my womanhood. I almost protested my dress until I saw the one they put Michelle in. It was the same color as her eyes, but it was barely there, the dress revealing most of her body as well as a good view of her lower lips. She stared at the male guards warily and then brought her gaze to my gown. She looked down at the ground and shuffled nervously out the door, me closely following behind. The rabbit shoved past us and held both our leads in his paws to keep us from running off. He walked us down the hall until we reached a massive door with ornamental swirls embossed in solid gold and gemstones. He pushed open the door and led us into a beautifully decorated dining hall with a ceiling that was too high above us to see if it to was decorated. There were tables everywhere, but the main table had a gilded throne chair built for Alexander no doubt, while the esteemed guest got high backed chairs that were burnished in sterling silver. I had never seen anything more beautiful or distracting. _And that's where we come in. Eye candy for all the less fortunate guests._ I thought bitterly as our leads changed hands to the panther, who had traded up from his usual robe to a more elegant vest and silk pants that had the colors that Alexander wore on him. He waved off the guards so that they could take up positions on every door and returned his attention to us as he looked over our attire.

"I must say ladies that you look ravishing." He noted as he led us to the head table. I sneered behind him and balled my paw into a fist; tiny sparks flying off of my fur as I bit back the cussing I wanted to give him. He held onto our leads as he took his seat on the right hand side of the golden throne and made us stand on either side of him; me on his left, Michelle on the right. I thought my plan over again and again as more guests started arriving, more than a fair share of them looking at us with lust in their eyes. When Alexander and Starfox came in, I noticed that he and Fox weren't speaking as freely as the occasion required. I kept my mouth sealed when Fox passed me by, suppressing the wave that I wanted to give him by holding my paws together behind my back. Alexander took his seat to my left, fully garbed in gleaming white battle armor with his broadsword by his side, and looked over at me from the corner of his eye.

"I see someone decided to dress up for our little party, Rapturian. I must admit I am impressed. I might just take you for my wife when alls said and done with, but lets not be hasty. We still have a little show to get through." He said with a grin as he looked up at me. I didn't answer or even move an inch, because if I had, I would've killed him on the spot. I looked past him to see Fox looking anxiously at me, trying not to take in the dress but to see if it really was me underneath the black fur. He was wearing a black long sleeved jerkin and matching greaves while his blaster was adorned on his hip, never any farther away from his paw than his little finger. Falco was there as well, but he was busy talking to a passing servant girl to notice me. Slippy wasn't here, which worried me, but knowing Fox, he had him doing something that would hopefully help get me out of here. I jumped slightly when I felt the panther run his hand down the curve of my ass and I reigned in the reflex to punch him in the face, trying to keep what little composure I could till the end of the feast. As soon as the last person took their place, I looked around to see that a lot of them were staring at me. I looked away from their staring eyes and looked up at one of the windows to see a silhouette against one of the torches that were lit outside. I blinked again to make sure I wasn't seeing things and the silhouette was gone.

"Friends, welcome to the sacred feast of the Scarbora." Alexander called out in a booming voice to everyone in attendance after he had stood up. He waited for the applause to die down before continuing. "Every year for as far back as our history goes; we have had the pleasure of feasting on the meat of the biggest, strongest, most dangerous Scarbora that we could slay. It has been the duty of the current ruler of our city to do such a feat with only a sword and shield, to prove their worth of the title of king. I have done so for many a year, I shall continue to do so until I am dead and buried with the bones of our ancestors. But, I made a shocking discovery not but four days ago. A discovery that may help escalate our city to one of the greatest on this planet. I have in my possession one of the last known beings of the Rapturian race."

A loud murmur ran through the crowd as they started looking around for the said Rapturian, but really they only had to look as far as to his right. He waited for the uproar to die down again before resuming his speech. "Legend tells us of this race as beings that could control the elements, beings that created some of the most revered technology in the entire universe. But they also tell us of their undying wrath, a sickness that drives those who contract it insane with uncontrollable rage and unimaginable power. I never believed in such legends because I thought it was just stuff of make believe. I thought them to be stories that were told to young children who would not obey their parents. But I have seen the truth of such legends and she stands beside me now, proof that such legends exist." Alexander gestured to me with a gloved paw and I cringed when the crowd gasped in either excitement or horror, I couldn't tell which reaction was more appropriate for the moment. The people gathered in the dining hall looked at my right arm and gasped even louder before some began saying prayers in their native tongue. I felt insulted that they would do something like that, but that was nowhere near as strong a feeling I felt like the fury that was bubbling inside me now. He was showing me off like a prized pet or a rarity that no one would ever see again. I didn't know how long I was going to hold out for my plan to work, but I never got a chance to do it when all of the candles that were lighting the hall were blown out at the same time, plunging the entire hall into pitch darkness. I let a dark smile grace my lips as I saw the panther drop my lead onto the ground in shock. I took the his head into my paws and snapped his neck with a simple twist, paying him back for what he'd forced me to do. I reached for Michelle and found her paw in the darkness, my improved night vision making everything as clear as day. Everyone was panicking except Alexander and Fox, but that was to be expected when they were both used to surprises. I rushed over to Fox and gave him Michelle's paw before running out towards one of the side doors, weaving through the panicked crowd with relative ease. I rushed through the open door and ran out into the night air, ignoring the calls from inside that were directed at me. Someone's gloved paw grabbed my shoulder to stop me from continuing and spun me around so that I was facing them. The guard was wearing the black and white colors of Alexander's family crest while a sword was held in his other paw.

"Where do you think you're going, Rapturian?" The Doberman asked as he took in my gown. I sighed exasperatedly and shrugged his paw off my shoulder before slamming my palm into his face, a satisfying crunch reaching my ears as he fell backwards onto the ground. I turned back to see Bella beckoning me from out in the garden down below me and smiled wryly as I leapt over the railing to the soft grass below. I landed in a tight crouch and took off after her, running through the trees and bushes as if they weren't there.

"Told you I'd get you out of there before the worst of it could happen." Bella said; her eyes alight with excitement underneath the black hooded jacket she was wearing. I just rolled my eyes and smirked at her as we ended up back at the entrance to Alexander's palace. As soon as we stopped to look around for her buggy, a javelin hit the ground just infront of my feet, the shaft gilded in reflective silver. I picked up the still quivering staff out of the ground and barely brought it up to block the sword slice that was aimed at my head. The blade easily sliced through the shaft and missed my nose by an inch, sparking as it hit the ground. Alexander brought his braced arm up in a sweeping strike and slammed into the side of my head, making me see stars as I stumbled backwards.

"I'm surprised, Bella. You don't usually take these kind of risks for an ordinary pet." Alexander growled as he pulled his sword free of the concrete. Bella growled back as she pulled out her staff from off of her back, the weapon extending till it was as tall as her and was tipped with two black blades that were inscribed with silver runes. She stepped infront of me and brandished her weapon in a protective stance, keeping herself between him and me. I heard the stomping of many feet and saw at least twelve of the blue robed anthros swarm around me from out from behind a wall, holding thin single edged long swords that had crimson blades. I whirled around to find a weak point in the circle, but couldn't find one that I could exploit easily.

"Well then, if you want to take me for what this arm has to offer, then come and rip it from my body." I challenged as a bright red glow started forming around the smooth metal. The glow illuminated everyone in the circle and I felt the warm pulse start to strengthen until it grew to a constant hum that cut through the deadly silence like a whistle. I got into a defensive crouch and waited for the first attacker to come at me, my paws up in anticipation for whatever they had to throw at me. The first one was a jackal with gray and black fur, but his attack was clumsy as he lunged towards me and it was easy to dodge. I moved slightly to the left and let my right paw skate across the metal in a shower of sparks before gripping the blade and yanking it from his paws. I shoved my left paw into his face and shocked him enough to knock him unconscious. He crumpled to the ground soundlessly, his ears flat against his head as he slept. I flipped the sword until my paw was on its handle and stabbed the blade into the ground before looking at the rest of the circle with a smile.

"Come on guys, don't be shy. I know at least four of you raped me during my stay and I'd hate to have to weed you out until I found the lucky ones. Trust me, the longer you prolong your wait, the worse the punishment you'll get." I called out as I let the energy flow through me and out my claws, the sparks spinning around my paw until it was covered in black flame. Two more hooded figures rushed me from the circle, their attacks more disciplined, but not to the point that I couldn't get through the defenses easily. I danced around the blades with boundless energy and skirted the edges of the circle until one of the cloaked anthros made the mistake of getting to close. My paw lashed out and struck his neck, easily tearing through the muscle and flesh before I ripped his jugular vein out of his throat. He sank to his knees clutching at his throat with blood gushing from his neck while the other anthro picked up the abandoned sword and rushed towards me, swords flashing in the moonlight. I danced away from the husky and narrowly avoided another sword from behind as I dove into a tight roll and popped up next to the nearly dead cat, the smell of blood bring about a wave of nausea that made me stop. I doubled over, gasping against the smell and put my burning paw to the wound to seal it shut, staunching the blood flow with the searing heat. The cat slumped his shoulders and fell over onto his side, eyes closed as he died. I breathed through my mouth and brought my infected arm up to block the sword strikes that would've beheaded me, the sound ringing deafeningly through the clearing. I swung my arm in a wide arc and made the attackers stumble long enough for me to slam their heads into each other's with a loud crack, knocking them out cold. I let their bodies fall where they lay and turned to see the rest of the circle close in tighter around me, their blades on the ground and paws raised in different fighting stances. I let my paws stay at my side in the relaxed pose that I'd learned in my CQC training with Fox and Krystal and grinned darkly at the eight anthros standing between me and freedom.

"I'm going to enjoy this. I've been waiting to teach you a thing or two about respect." One of the cloaked anthros sneered confidently as he ran at me, his hood falling to reveal one of the unfortunate few who'd raped me these past few weeks. He threw a punch at me, but the form was pitiful enough to make me laugh. I caught his punch in my infected paw and flipped him onto his back before snapping his neck with a quick stomp of my foot. I let his arm fall limply to the ground as another punch whistled past my head. I dodged the next one and spun around to intercept the next flurry when he lashed out with his foot and caught me in the ribs. I gasped in mock pain and grabbed his leg before he could yank it back and tripped him with a sweep of my foot before slamming his face into the ground, his skull shattering underneath the force I'd just exerted onto his head. I felt a buzz of adrenaline shoot through my veins and stood to face the other six, reveling in their worried murmurs as they took in the six bodies of their comrades, lying on the ground in bad shape. I faintly heard the crashing of weapons as Bella and Alexander fought and mentally wished her good luck before returning my focus to the only robbed figure left standing infront of me, the others on their knees in a submissive way. The last robbed figure pulled their hood down and I gasped in surprise that it was Faith who was standing infront of me, her silver scaled face torn between hurt and determination. She raised her paws hesitantly into her fighting stance and stood ready for me, her eyes glistening with tears. I let paws fall to my sides and shook my head in disbelief, not wanting to fight the only one here that treated me with any kind of decency.

"I'm not going to fight you, Faith." I said in a whisper as I looked at the ground, trying not to meet her teary gaze. Every ounce of excitement I'd felt towards getting my revenge left my body in a rush, leaving in its absence a gaping hole. I heard the rustle of her robes as she launched herself at me and I put my paws up to defend myself, but I couldn't bring myself to lay a finger on her in retaliation. She hammered against my paws as hard as she could, each punch making my legs waver as I backed away from her onslaught. I grabbed her paws in mine and twisted her arms around her back to hold her at bay while I blinked tears out of my eyes.

"Why are you doing this, Faith? You don't have to listen to him; don't have to follow his orders. You can just walk away." I pleaded as she struggled against the hold until she kicked my leg out from under me, making me let go to catch myself before I fell. She darted away from me and spun around to face me, a distressed look in her eyes as if she were trying to wrestle with a dilemma. I looked into her eyes for the first time and saw that they were a dull, inky dark blue that made it clear to me as to why she couldn't stop fighting me even if she wanted to. Alexander had probably commanded all of them before the feast to incapacitate me if I tried to get away, but making her do this was low, even for him. I racked my brain, trying to think of a way to break her out of his influence, when she lunged at me again and barely missed my head. I dodged her blows easily and continued to think until an idea struck, making me stop in mid-dodge and almost get sent sprawling to the ground when she hit me. I stumbled and spit out some blood from my mouth before ducking below another one of her punches, moving out of her reach as I worked out what my plan was. _If this works, I am definitely going to kill Alexander if Bella doesn't do it._ I thought as I waited for Faith to come back at me. I didn't have to wait long for her to sprint forward and start throwing punches at me. I ducked beneath each one of them and leapt at her when I saw an opening, my arms lacing around her neck as I crushed my lips against hers. She froze for a second, shock locking up her limbs while her brain took in what I had done, before wrapping her arms around me and kissing me back heavily. I felt her hot breath pour into my mouth as she wrestled eagerly with my tongue and her paws grab a hold of my ass to pull me up deeper into our kiss. I didn't try and resist the kiss, not because I wanted desperately for someone to do this with, but because it was helping a friend and if I had to, I would kill to save a friend. I heard some of the cloaked figures say sappy awwwwwwwww's when we broke from our kiss, a strand of saliva still connecting our mouths together, and I rolled my eyes at the way it sounded. I looked up at Faith's eyes and saw that they were a brilliant shade of cerulean, the way they should be.

"Thank you, Hazel." She said as she hugged me tightly around the waist and gave me another long, passionate kiss before letting me breathe again. "No… problem… Faith. Just… give me… some warning before you do that." I complained as she put me back down. She smiled sheepishly at me and got a laugh out of me before I remembered what was going on. I turned to the semi circle of anthros on their knees and saw two of them trembling slightly when they caught me staring at me. I walked over to them and pulled their hood back before sneering at the two frightened squirrels. I cracked my knuckles theatrically and let my paw blaze to life as I stared them down. They cringed when they saw the look in my eye and scrambled over each other before running off down the drive, trying to keep from being behind the other for more than a few seconds.

"Wow, didn't even have to do anything to make them run." I mused with a grin before looking back to Bella and Alexander's fight, wondering how it was going. I heard a loud clang and leapt to the side as her staff spun past, the weapon spinning end over end before getting embedded in the ground next to me. I pulled the staff out of the ground and twirled it around my fingers before leveling a deadly glare at the wolf, the blades whistling through the air as they spun in a lazy circle. Alexander had Bella on the ground with his sword at her throat; his armor filled with rips and tears where her bladed staff had gone through. She stared up at him with hatred burning in her eyes as he stood over her, ready to deliver the killing blow with an evil glint in his eyes. I stopped the staff in my paw and rushed towards him silently, keeping myself out of his line of sight while my jaw was clenched against my fury.

"You still think that you can fight me, Rapturian, or should I call you by your name, Hazel? I must admit, it does have a certain ring to it that would sound excellent next to mine." Alexander said calmly, his voice deep and heavy with power as I reached him. I felt his power try to control my body into submission, but I had my rage fueling me this time and I wasn't going to let him take control of me ever again. I spun the staff over my head and sliced it in a diagonal arc towards his head, my paws igniting the blade in black flames as I let the power flow through me and out the staff as an extension of my body. He blocked the blade with his bracer and knocked the blade aside before following through with the sweep to bring his sword up in a rising slash. I jumped back before his blade could hit me and shook my paw to get rid of the sting in it from the hit. He took advantage of the distraction and attacked me savagely, making me quickly turn to the defensive to keep from letting him gain the upper hand in the fight. He battered against the staff relentlessly as he forced me backwards before he flipped his sword so that the flat side slid against the shaft and sliced into my side, blood staining the blade as it cut closely to my ribcage. I winced at the burning pain that the slice had sent up to my brain, but I ignored it and knocked the sword away from me with the palm of my paw. He backed off for a second, his eyes looking eager for an easy kill as he took a few steps back.

"You're going to lose, Hazel, can't you see that? Just give up and I might be able to keep the punishment for your attempt at escape to a minimum." Alexander stated smugly as he let the edge of the blade rest on his shoulder while a dark smile graced his lips. I snarled in defiance at him and held my ground, ripping the lead from around my neck and throwing it onto the ground. He sighed and shook his head before returning to his fighting stance, his shoulders and legs relaxed in complete confidence that I'd be under his control again by the end of this fight. I held the staff across my body and waited for him to come at me, my teeth grinding against the amount of effort I had to keep my self-control together. He ran forward, letting the tip of the sword drag across the ground in a shower of sparks before lifting it up to slice across my chest. I avoided the slice altogether and grabbed his sword paw as he tried to bring the sword back around, my fingers enclosing around his wrist. He stared in wide-eyed disbelief at how fast I'd just moved and cringed in pain as I stabbed the point of the staff through his already weakened breastplate, the blade easily skewering his heart as it continued on through his back. I felt his blood drip onto my head as he coughed up some from his injury and heard his sword clatter to the ground as his paw went limp. I wrenched the bloody staff from his chest and stepped away from him as he stumbled a little, blood gushing from both the wound and his mouth, before falling to his knees.

"I- I guess I underestimated you… have a good life… Hazel." Alexander said with a bloody smile before falling forward onto his face, blood pooling underneath his still body. I gave him a grim smile and touched the still burning end of the staff to his armor, making it shimmer and glow as the holes and tears were mended by the heat. I looked back over my shoulder and saw Faith and the other blue robes lining their fallen comrades in a row, the ones I'd knocked out back on their feet already. I caught their hateful stares and gave them an emotionless mask to look at as I forced myself to calm down; quelling the unimaginable amount of anger welled up inside of me. I stepped quietly away from the dead ruler and knelt next to Bella, taking in the various gashes in her arms and legs before giving her back her staff. She took it graciously and struggled to sit up as she took in what I was wearing for the first time, a smirk cracking the mask of pain.

"Seems your taste in clothing hasn't changed, Hazel." She noted with a small laugh. I rolled my eyes and helped her to her feet before putting her arm around my shoulders to help her walk. She protested against it, but she let me carry her to where she told me her buggy was parked. I gently slid her into the passenger seat and took the driver's seat before starting up the engine with a spark of electricity, hot-wiring it to save time.

"Leaving without saying goodbye, Hazel?" Fox's voice asked from nearby. I turned with a smirk and saw him standing with a warm smile on his face and his arms crossed loosely over his chest, the friendly twinkle in his eyes that made me become his friend all those years ago. I shook my head and got out of the buggy before giving him an affectionate hug that I'd wanted to give him the first time he and I parted ways. He hugged me back with just as much affection and let go with a sigh as he held me at arms length. I smiled as I saw his eyes stray to the revealing fabric of my gown and held his head in between my paws to make him look back up at me.

"I'm up here, Fox. Besides, I wasn't planning on leaving. In fact, I was going to ask if I could stay with you guys for a while. I need to get my life back in order and I think some time with my friends will do me a lot of good." I said as I looked back over at Bella, who was looking back at me wonderingly. Fox stared over my shoulder and saw Bella and me share a look before sighing again. "I guess Slippy won't mind moving his equipment out of the spare room on the Great Fox to accommodate a couple of extra guests." Fox answered with a grin as I hugged him tightly, happy that I could spend some time with my friends again.

"Okay, Hazel… I'm suffocating now... please let go." Fox wheezed as he tried to push away from me playfully. I let go of him with an apologetic look on my face and took a step back as I released my hold on him. He laughed happily and ran off to tell the others I was coming along for the ride. I turned back to the buggy to see that Bella was sitting in the driver's seat with a grin on her face, as she looked me. I grinned back and ran around the side to sit in the passenger's seat before punching her lightly in the arm.

"That's for using me as a pet in the first place." I said with a laugh as I settled into the seat. She laughed with me and patted me on the shoulder softly as her expression turned to a somber one. "I'm sorry Hazel, I shouldn't've used you like that. I'd understand if you didn't trust me again because of this and to be quite honest, I don't even trust myself anymore. All these years of killing, thieving, doing whatever it takes to stay alive, has made the line between right and wrong incredibly blurry. I don't know how to repay you for doing this for me, but I'll find a way, I promise." Bella swore in a quiet voice, her paw on my cheek as she moved closer to me. I didn't know whether or not to stop her, but I thought against it and moved the last couple of inches myself, kissing her softly while I caressed her matted cheek. I pulled away after a few seconds and gave her a smile when I heard a horn sound from far off, signaling that Fox and the others were ready to go. Bella shoved her foot on the gas rocketed us after the other buggy, our paws clasped together while she drove one-pawed. I thought back over what my life had been like for the past month and realized that if this was what my race had left me; mysteries to unravel and vendettas to calm while avoiding those who would want me for the powers that my race has, then I was willing to do just that. I was a Rapturian and I was proud of what I was, finally embracing the legacy that the dragon had bestowed upon me by infecting my arm with whatever this metallic substance was. Life was finally looking up for me and I was happy for some time for relaxation.

**Starfox is the trademarked product of Nintendo while Hazel, Bella, Faith, Alexander, Michelle and all the other anthros in this story are mine. No O.C. ripping and no idea lynching.**


	8. Part 8: Birthday R&R

I was lying in a field with bees buzzing around and birds chirping in the distance, the sky painted a clear blue with the occasional wisp of a cloud as it passed by. I breathed in the scent of wildflowers and let it out slowly, wondering if life was really this good after I graduated and moved in with Axel. We'd been going out for a few months and he thought it'd be a good idea to move in together in his loft. Of course I thought it was a good idea, but now, I'm not so sure. I mean, I won't be able to see Jasper as much cause he's going off to an engineering school on Fichnia, but I'd get to spend more time with Axel and my other friends. I just don't know what to do.

"_Hey Hazel, want some company?" I heard Jasper call out as he walked over to me. I sat up and waved him over with a smile as he sat down next to me. He grinned stupidly at me and gave me a friendly shove before lying on his back, his football jersey rippling slightly in the breeze. I shoved him back and stared up at the sky as a bee buzzed past my head. _

"_Ready for graduation, Jasper?" I asked distractedly, not really wanting to bring up our shortening time together but wondering what he thought of it. He sat up and wrapped his arms loosely around my waist as he let his chin rest against my shoulder, looking up at the sky to. "I guess so, but I'm worried about the after part of graduation. I won't get to see you as often as I do now and I'll miss you like crazy on Fichnia, but I guess we'll always get to see each other sooner or later. Besides, wouldn't want to stand in the way of your happiness with who you picked, now would I?" He said with a slight scowl in his voice when he mentioned Axel. I knew he didn't like Axel that much, but I loved him and he loved me back. There wasn't much I could do about that, but I still thought that Jasper could try to like him a little bit more. We sat there for a long while, the birds singing their songs to each other, and I enjoyed my time with Jasper. Nothing was going to ruin it for me and I nestled back into his arms and let the quiet rumbles of his breathing put me into a calmer state. "I'm going to miss you, Jasp. I know how much that scholarship means to you, and I hope you do great."_

"_I'm gonna miss you to, Hazey. More than you know, but I'll miss you just the same." He replied quietly as he rubbed his cheek against mine. I liked the way it felt and held his paws in mine; keeping him around me so I could keep him with me forever._

I woke up slowly, not wanting the dream to end. I kept my eyes closed and tried to bring back the memory so I could keep the dream going, but it slipped back to the edges of my conscious and eluded my grasp until I forced my eyes open. At first, everything was blurry from exhaustion, the room a muddy smudge on the glass. But after a few blinks, the room became sharper until I could recognize some of it: the gray, steel walls and ceiling, the dresser built into the east wall, and the door that led to a bathroom in the far eastern corner. I groaned sleepily and turned onto my side to try and get back to sleep, but sleep didn't want to come to my aid. I heard the door to my room open and covered my head in with the sheet at the unwelcome light, screwing my eyes shut to keep from being blinded by whoever had opened the door.

"Whatever it is, can't it wait? I'm tired and want to go back to sleep." I complained as I tried to do just that, but the light persisted. I heard the clicking of someone's bare claws touching the floor and felt a slight depression as that same someone climbed onto the bed with me. I pulled the cover from over my head and turned to see Michelle lying next to me with tears in her eyes. _Of course I'm the one she comes to after having a nightmare._ I thought bitterly as I turned all the way to see that she wasn't wearing anything at all. I gave her a confused look and sighed as I let her under the covers with me, getting a hug and a wet shoulder as she cried against me.

"What's wrong, Michelle?" I asked quietly as I tried to calm her down. She sniffed a couple of times and looked up at me with big, teary eyes as she told me, through a lot of panting, what was wrong. She'd dreamt of the raping that she had gone through thanks to the panther back on Nanuet and the only reason she came to me for comfort was that I was the only one she knew on the ship. I nodded my head sleepily and rubbed her back so that she would at least try and go to sleep again, but she was already dozing against my chest. I rolled my eyes and let out a quiet, exasperated sigh before closing my eyes, letting the memories flood over me again so I could go back to sleep peacefully. I felt her paw rub my back softly, in a more consoling way rather than a sensual way, and wondered if she were dreaming about a family member or something. The motion helped me fall asleep faster and I was out in seconds, holding her to me loosely so that she could leave if she wanted to. But, as luck would have it, the door opened again, closely followed by a snicker that sounded irritatingly familiar. I raised my head up from my pillow sleepily and saw Falco standing in the doorway with a camera in his feathery hands.

"Say cheese, Hazel." He smirked as he took a picture of me and Michelle in bed together. The flash caught me off guard and I was blinded for a second, but the bright light woke me up a lot faster than I thought it would've. I blinked to get the spots out of my eyes and scowled darkly at him as he retreated through my bedroom door, laughing his head off while waving the camera over his head. I huffed angrily through my teeth and looked down at Michelle's sleeping face before prying her arms off of me, folding them around her chest and pulling the covers over her shoulders to keep her warm in my absence. I leapt out of the bed and took off silently through my door, barely missing the door as it opened slowly to my approach. I slid into the hallway and covered my eyes at the bright light that greeted me. I saw Falco at the far end of the hall and took off after him, grinding my teeth against each other as I kept my eyes on the camera in his right wing. He ran down an adjacent hallway and I heard the hiss of a door close as I rounded the corner. I walked up to the door and waited for it to open before walking into the pitch-black room, looking around for different places that he'd hide from me in. I heard a rustle from behind a sofa and crept up to it before pouncing over it to catch him off guard. What I landed on was a jacket. I stood up, blushing slightly at the fact that I just jumped a jacket and turned to see if I'd missed something.

"SURPRISE!!!!!!!" I heard Bella cry as the lights were flung on, revealing a party decorated room with a massive cake on the table at the far end of the room. I recognized the room as the lounge Falco had put in a few months ago, but was thrown back by how much time they'd put into making this party for me. I saw Bella and Fox standing next to the cake with huge grins on their faces while Falco was laughing at my expression. I was lost for words and couldn't do anything but blush an even deeper shade of crimson that everyone could see. I opened my mouth to say something, but couldn't find the words to express how happy I felt at the moment, so I just stood there with my mouth open like an idiot. I heard the door open and saw Slippy holding Michelle's hand as he led her over to the couch infront of me, the leopard now clothed in a pair of pajamas that they'd given her. I shook myself out of my stupor and smiled at everyone as I made my way over to the giant, chocolate covered cake, the smell making my mouth water already. The cake had three levels to it, with spaces to separate them that reminded me of a wedding cake while my name and the words 'Happy Birthday' were written in silver frosting that stuck out against the dark chocolate icing. I spied chocolate chunks on its surface and wanted nothing more than to tear into it with my paws and shovel as much down my throat as possible, but I wanted to let everyone else share in it to.

"When did you guys find the time to do this?" I asked, gesturing to all of the decorations and the cake. I ran my finger along the top layer of the cake and licked off the ball of frosting, sighing in enjoyment as I finally got to taste my cake. "It wasn't that hard, Hazel. You slept like a log for the past few days, so we just blazed through it. The cake, on the other hand, was a bit of a handful." Bella answered with a sheepish look on her face.

"That's putting it mildly. Seems fourth times the charm, huh Fox?" Falco asked with a laugh as he walked over and clapped a wing on my back. I cut a piece of cake from the bottom and shoved it in his beak, laughing at him as he sputtered to get some of the cake from choking him. I heard Fox laughing with me and gave him a bright smile as I grabbed another slice of cake. Before I could even take a bite, though, Falco threw a slice of cake in my face. I ducked at the last second, making it hit Slippy in the head, but I got hit from the side when Bella threw one at me to. Before long, the entire party devolved into a food fight, pieces of cake getting flung around at people while everyone took shelter at various places in the room. I ducked behind the bar with a huge plate of cake and kept lobbing chunks over it blindly, laughing along with everyone else when someone got hit. I saw Bella getting doubled up on by Falco and Slippy, so I started throwing cake at them to stop distract them so that she could make her escape before I got smacked in the face with a huge pile of cake. I went sprawling back onto the floor and sat up to see Michelle laughing at me while she started throwing more cake from behind the sofa. I wiped away most of the cake and continued the cake war with everyone until the walls were plastered with chocolate frosting and fudge filing.

"Okay, I call a truce before we all kill ourselves with cake. Agreed?" I called out from behind the bar, covered in cake. I heard a smattering of agreements and stood up, only to find everyone aiming cake at me. I quickly ducked back behind the counter and laughed when cake started raining down on me, covering me from head to toe in at least five different chocolates. I jumped back onto my feet and held my hands out infront of me, surrendering with a grin as I licked most of the chocolate from off of my lips.

"Okay, this time I'm serious. I don't want to walk around as the cake monster all day, so, I'm going to take a shower and then I'm coming back to give all of you a hug for making this a great birthday for me. Thanks guys." I said with a grin as I walked slowly towards the door, keeping my back to no one incase they wanted to get one more shot at me before I was gone. I heard the door open behind me and I crept through it before ducking underneath another shot from Falco. I glared playfully at him before walking off in the direction of my room, leaving a trail of my birthday cake behind me with each step. I made it to my room and immediately made for the bathroom, stripping off my clothes and throwing them onto the floor before stepping into the large bathroom. I let the door close behind me before walking over to the bathtub and turning on the taps till the tub was filled with warm water. I pulled some scented soaps and body scrubs from underneath the sink and poured them in until the entire bathroom smelled of strappleberry. I threw the spent bottles into the trash and eased myself into the water with a relieved sigh, sitting down on the bottom while my legs were stretched to the other end. I stayed in the tub and relaxed, letting the water do its work and take the cake out of my fur gradually, the massaging jets in the bottom and back of the tub gently pulsing in intervals that worked best with my body. I sunk lower into the water and enjoyed the time to let my mind drift, relishing in my birthday and the feel of the water as it caressed my limbs. I heard the slight hiss of my bedroom door opening, but ignored it as something that didn't bother me and continued my bath.

It felt like a few years had passed when I got out of the tub, dripping wet from all over my body, but I felt a lot better from my long bath. I pulled a towel from one of the cupboards and dried myself off as I walked out of the steamy bathroom, letting the warm air follow me out into the cold bedroom. I heard something crunch underneath my foot and looked down to see a trail of rose petals that led from the bathroom to the bedroom door. I stared at them confusedly and grabbed a fresh shirt and some sweatpants from the dresser before following the trail out into the hall. I pulled on my clothes and followed the trail cautiously, wondering if this was another trick by Falco and kept my guard up incase it was. The trail continued for another three minutes before it halted abruptly infront of Fox's room, making me wonder what he was thinking. I waited for the door to slide open and walked into his room when I was greeted with a sight that made my mouth open in a slight O of surprise. There were candles lit on every surface imaginable; the bedside table, the dresser, the desk he had in the corner, everywhere, giving the room an orange glow. I followed the trail of rose petals with my eyes and saw that they ended on top of his bed, scattered evenly across the sheets while a note sat in the middle of the pattern of roses. I slowly made my way to the bed and picked up the note with a nervous paw, not knowing if I should feel thrilled or apprehensive about this.

_**Happy Birthday, Hazel. Hope you like your present. – Bella **_

I looked up from the card and turned to see Bella standing in the doorway, staring expectantly at me while I just stared back in surprise as I noticed she wasn't wearing anything. "Ummm… I don't know what to say." I said, looking from Bella's supple breasts to her smiling face with a stunned look freezing my face in the way it was. She walked over to me and wrapped her arms around my waist while the tip of her nose touched mine. "All you have to say is thank you. I told you I'd pay you back sometime." She whispered before pressing her lips softly against mine, unfreezing my face slowly as her tongue moved over mine and rubbed the insides of my mouth. I responded excitedly and wrapped my arms around her while my tongue entered her mouth, running along the contours of her inner cheeks and wrestled her tongue in mine. I rubbed my hand through her azure fur and gave her butt cheek a slight grasp while I pulled her closer to me, not wanting to end the kiss prematurely. I leaned back onto the bed and let her lay on top of me while we untangled our tongues from one another. Bella pulled her muzzle from mine and smiled mischievously at me while she wormed one of her paws into my pants, her fingers rubbing against my fur until she made it to my lower lips. She squeezed my clit in between two of her fingers and nuzzled the space in between my breasts before pulling up my shirt with her free paw, giving my nipples a quick lick once she could get at them. I squirmed underneath her touch and gasped when she slowly slid her fingers into my slit, my warm folds enveloping them greedily while my heart started pumping in my chest.

"Thank… you… Bella… nggh… this feels… incredible." I said in between moans as she started running her claws along the inside of my pussy, sending shivers of pleasure up my spine. She looked up from my breasts and nodded with a smile before going back to suckling on my nipples, making me groan again. I could feel my climax peaking thanks to her obvious skill with her fingers and ground my pelvis into her questing touch, making my already sensitive depths scream happily with pleasure. I moaned loudly and came all over Bella's hand, my cum covering my inner thighs and the insides of my sweatpants. I felt her push her hand farther into my cunt and I threw my head back with a muffled scream as she rubbed her fingers over my G-spot, making me cum again with a little less strength but almost double the pleasure my body was feeling. She laughed around my breast and pulled her paw from out of my pants before letting go of my chest completely, mouth and all.

"I see you liked that, Hazel." Bella commented with a smile as she looked at my panting face. I nodded once and the room went spinning for a few seconds, making me want to vomit. She ran her cum soaked paw up my stomach and rubbed my breasts a little before bringing it to her mouth so she could lick her fingers clean. I took in a shuddering breath and felt sick for some reason, the cake from earlier starting to come back up. I lurched off of the bed and made for the bathroom, my face green beneath my black fur. I cupped my paw infront of my mouth and knelt infront of the toilet before vomiting noisily into it, my stomach churning to get everything out. I heard Bella come into the bathroom after me, but I couldn't lift my head from the rim to look at her.

"Hazel, is everything all right?" Bella asked worriedly, her voice sounding farther away than right next to me. I shook my head and the motion brought on another wave of nausea that made me vomit. I reached up to flush the toilet to get the smell out from infront of me, but my arm didn't want to listen to what my brain was telling it to do. "Wait here, I'll get Slippy to come check on you. Just don't try and move." Bella said as her pawsteps receded back into Fox's room then back into the hall, leaving me alone with my upset stomach. I lifted my head carefully out of the toilet and lay down on the floor, curling into a ball to keep from moving too much. The cold feel of my infected limb against my cheek calmed down my stomach for the moment and I wondered why I was feeling this bad now, even though I'd never gotten sick in my entire life. I heard the sound of feet coming into Fox's room and a smattering of voices, but I felt tired and wanted to go to sleep. I closed my eyes with a sigh and let exhaustion take over, my mind disconnecting from my body and floating away to my pain free bubble.

"Hazel… wake up Hazel…" A voice called out to me from a distance. I struggled to get my heavy eyelids open and when I did, I found myself in the Great Fox's medical ward. I heard the beep of a heart monitor and saw the worried faces of my friends sitting in various places around the room. I looked a little to my right and saw Slippy standing there with a machine hooked up to my arm, a grim look on his face while sweat dewed on his forehead. I sent an errant charge through my body so it would wake up and listened to the heart monitor go insane thanks to the excess energy from my body. Everyone in the room looked over at my bed and I waved sheepishly as the beeping started to slow back down to a normal rate. "Hi guys, how's it going?"

Before anyone could say anything, Slippy unhooked the machine and cleared his throat to get my attention. I looked at him and my sheepishness turned into anxiety when I saw the look on his face. "What's wrong, Slippy? Why are you looking at me like I'm the living dead?" He shook his head and for the first time, I actually saw tears in his eyes. "That's exactly it, Hazel. In all rights, you should in fact be dead. We don't know how you came up from having no pulse for over twenty minutes, but here you are, alive and well. I don't know what to make of it, but it has something to do with this arm. I've never seen something like it in all my years of being a part of Star Fox, but whatever it is, it's killing you." He took a deep breath and let the words settle in my head before continuing. "It feeds off of you, like a symbiotic parasite would feed off its host, but this metallic like shell it incased your arm in seems to have the properties of an infection that has been prematurely stopped. Does it ever hurt when you move your arm, Hazel?" Slippy asked, wiping the tears from his eyes. I was too numb to understand what he was asking because my mind had stopped working at the _its killing you_ part of the conversation. It took a minute for me to even remember how to breathe right before I could answer his question.

"Only once, and that was after I had woken up with my arm the way it is now." I answered quietly, trying not to remember the horrible sadness that had closely followed my discovery. Slippy nodded and picked up an energy scalpel from off of the surgical tray and took a tiny chip off of my forearm before letting it fall into a waiting examination dish. Before he could get the lid on, the chip in my arm healed itself and the piece in the dish seemed to lose its sheen. He put the lid on and sighed before moving out of the way to let everyone else come in to my bedside, but I grabbed his jacket sleeve to keep him there. "How long, Slippy? At least tell me t so I don't have to go insane wondering if I'll die tomorrow."

He looked back at me and shook his head. "I wish I could, Hazel. I really wish I could…" He trailed off as I let go. He walked out of the room and I thought I could see his shoulders trembling from the effort it took to keep from braking down infront of everyone. I sat there and looked at everyone in the eyes before burying my face in my paws, my hair falling over my face like a curtain. I let the tears pool in the palms of my paws and I didn't know what to do about the sorrow I was feeling now. I heard someone crying as well, and I recognized the sobbing as Michelle's. I looked up from my paws and saw the sad looks in everyone's eyes, but I found that I couldn't bring myself to look into either Bella's or Fox's eyes. I stared at the sheets and watched a spark of electricity hop across the pool of tears in my paw before fizzling out in midair like a miniature super nova. I closed my paw into a loose fist and looked back up at everyone with a calm look on my face, keeping my anguish bottled up so that I could unleash it on someone who wanted to piss me off.

"If it's alright with you guys, could you at least try and look happy. It's still my birthday and I don't want my impending demise to ruin your good time. Hey Falco, remember what you told me the last time we met, that you could beat me down in a fight?" I asked the moping bird with a fake smile on my face. He nodded half-heartedly and looked up to see me clenching my fist at him. "Why don't you put your money where your beak is and prove it to me?"

"Don't you think you should take it easy, Hazel? I mean, we don't know what that thing will do to you if you over exert yourself and besides, I wouldn't want to hurt you or anything." Falco answered with sullen look while his eyes were bright to see me actually asking him for a fight. I shook my head and unplugged the wires from my body before climbing nimbly out of bed, my tail swishing excitedly behind me. "Oh, I wouldn't worry to much about that happening."

The sparring range, I later found out, had only been recently outfitted with a holographic projection system that allowed three-dimensional images to be projected out onto a massive scale, giving the combatants a wide variety of areas to fight in. I walked out into the middle of the arena and sat down cross-legged with my eyes closed to concentrate on my breathing, ignoring Falco's self pep talk as he punched at imaginary enemies around him.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Hazel? Your heart might not be up to a fight yet and none of us want to see you die again." Fox cautioned. I looked at him with one eye and gave him a bright smile while I pushed every other emotion to the back of my head, letting a shower of sparks vent from my body and pulsate in time with my heartbeat in the air around me. They dissipated in a matter of seconds and left my limbs nimble with the shock. "I don't think this'll put to much a strain on my heart, Fox. Besides, Falco runs his mouth a lot and he is a good shot, but his paw-to-paw fighting might not be where mine is." I reassured him as I took a deep breath and got up out of my stance to face Falco. He gave me a smug smile and raised his fists up in a boxer's stance and hopped from foot to foot while he kept his eyes on me. I rolled my eyes at him and let my arms rest easily at my side, staring warmly at him as if he were talking to me about the weather. Fox sighed and went over to the wall to punch in a randomized location for us to fight in, giving me a last worried look before walking back over to us. There was a bright flash of light and I had to blink a few times to get the spots out of my eyes before I noticed that we were standing in a martial arts dojo, complete with wooden crossbeams and a stand for spectators.

"First to three falls wins. No low blows and no 'special' abilities. Are the rules understood by both parties?" Fox asked. We both nodded in turn and he signaled for the fight start. I stood my ground as Falco ran towards me and ducked underneath his first punch, barely avoiding it by a slight margin. I blocked his leg as it came out of nowhere and was pushed back slightly by the force behind his kick. I straightened up and lashed out at him with my claws, barely catching his cheek before wheeling my leg back and catching him in the stomach. He grabbed my leg and pulled hard, forcing me to wobble slightly to regain my balance before I could bring my paws up in defense from a barrage of punches directed at me. Falco hammered into my arms until they felt like jelly and sent me sprawling with a heavy roundhouse kick. I hit the ground hard and used the momentum to flip back onto my feet. I shook my head to clear it of the stars and got back into my stance before rushing Falco, taking him by surprise with a series of crippling blows to his arms and legs. I ended my flurry with a straight punch to the chest that knocked him to the ground and spit out a tooth he'd knocked out of my jaw.

"You wanna keep going, Falco? I wouldn't want to embarrass you or anything." I chided playfully as he got back onto his feet. He rolled his arms to get the feel back in them and shook his head with a grin. I nodded and raised my paws in a defensive stance as he ran towards me, his feet thudding against the ground as he leveled a punch towards me. I blocked it and read his next move on his face, so I flipped him onto his back and held my knee over his windpipe while pulling his arm the other way. He tapped my knee in a sign of submission and I let him up only to get an uppercut to the chin and an elbow to the sternum. I fell to the floor and lay there stunned, my eyes glazed over while stars danced infront of my face. I vaguely heard Fox asking if I were all right and Falco gloating slightly, although there was a hint of worry in his voice. I sat up and jumped to my feet lithely, struggling to keep my footing while I put my paws back up to fight again.

"Hazel, stop. You don't have anything to prove by trying to kill yourself in a fight. Just qui-" I cut Fox off with a withering glare that made him take a few steps away from me and glanced back at Falco, who was standing with a restrained look in his eyes. "Come on, Falco, fight me." I nearly yelled at him, a hysterical edge in my voice as I stared him down. I felt power rushing through me as I stared him down, making everything look as if it were covered in a red haze. I launched myself at him and knocked him off his feet with a single blow to the jaw before grabbing his foot and slamming him to the ground with enough force to make the image quiver. He kicked off my paw and lashed out at me with punches that would've taken my head off he'd hit me with any, but I dodged behind him and kicked him in the back. He went sprawling to the ground and I pulled his arms back behind him while my foot pushed down on his back. I heard his bones starting to crack underneath my grip and I laughed at the sound, relishing in it.

"Fight back, Falco. Come on… I thought you were better than me." I said with a crazed look in my eye. "Okay Hazel, I'm not better than you alright? Now let me go. I want to keep my arms." He joked desperately, his voice strained against the pain I was inflicting on him. I ignored him and pulled back harder, his arms almost out of their sockets. That was when I heard the sobbing. I looked around for the sound and saw Michelle sitting next to Bella with her eyes wide with terror at what I had turned into. The red haze over my eyes disappeared instantly and I was aware of everything I had been doing. I let go of Falco's arms and watched him fall face first onto the ground. He groaned in pain and rolled onto his back to look at me with borderline fear on his face. I looked down at my paws and saw them trembling with power, the power to kill and the power to destroy. I sank to my knees and kept staring at my paws, my mind trying to wrap its way around what I had just done.

"I'm… a monster." I whispered brokenly. The words echoed in my head and resonated deeply in my soul. _I'm a monster._

**Starfox is the trademarked product of Nintendo while Hazel, Bella, Faith, Alexander, Michelle and all the other anthros in this story are mine. No O.C. ripping and no idea lynching.**


	9. Part 9: Revelations

I sat in the darkness of my room, the door locked with a sign plastered to the front that read: _**Please keep out. Stay away for your own safety. **_After the incident with Falco, I deemed it necessary for me to leave the Great Fox for the safety of everyone else. When I told everyone what I was planning on doing, they all rejected the idea vehemently, saying that it was an accident. _The bruises on Falco's wrists don't look like an accident and neither do the bandages._ I thought sorrowfully, cringing at the momentary state of bloodlust I had suffered. I sighed and lay down on my bed, staring at the dark ceiling and started counting for the hundredth time the number of minute grooves I could find. I hadn't found more than thirty when someone unlocked the door and stepped into my room, letting the door close behind them. I looked up and saw Bella standing there with her staff on her back while she carried a duffle bag in her paws.

"Grab whatever you need and meet me in the hanger." She said as she threw the bag onto the bed and walked quietly out of the room. I stared after her as if she were crazy, but the adventurous/curious side of me wanted to know what we were going to be doing, so I climbed off of the bed and grabbed an extra set of clothes, a bracelet that Fox had given me when I'd gotten back onboard and a pair of custom dog tags that had mine and Fox's names on them. I draped them over my neck and crept out into the hall before taking off silently to the hanger, leaving my friends behind again and hopefully keeping them safe. I stopped infront of the hanger doors and took a deep breath to calm my nerves before walking into the cavernous hanger, the team's Arwings hanging from anti gravity repulsors in the docking bays. I spotted Bella next to one of them and made my way over as quickly as I could, my heart pounding with what I assumed was adrenaline. I stopped next to her and looked at the Arwing we were about to steal when she picked up one of the dog tags around my neck.

"A gift from Fox when we were friends way back when." I explained. She shrugged her shoulders and opened the cockpit the Arwing before tossing our bags into it the undercarriage cargo bay and climbing into it herself. I climbed in after her and sat in the cramped secondary seat behind her when I remembered her buggy.

"What're you going to do about your buggy, Bella?" I asked as I looked at it sitting in the corner, the energy rifles gleaming in the semi darkness. She looked back over her shoulder and pressed the button for the canopy to close over our head before shrugging her shoulders again.

"I'll get it back sooner or later, but right now, you are more important than my buggy, Hazel. I don't like it when friends beat themselves over something that's out of their control and I intend to help you through it. So I think you should strap yourself into the seat 'cause I've never actually flown one of these things before." She said as the hanger lights came on around us, bathing everything in a bright light that blinded the both of us for a few seconds. The radio phased to life and Fox's voice rang out as clearly as if he were standing next to me.

"Oh come on, Hazel. What is it with you and leaving without goodbyes, huh?" He asked almost angrily. I pushed the canopy open and saw Fox standing in a pair of boxer shorts and a tank top, a set of dog togs around his neck that were identical to mine. I smiled and jumped out of the Arwing to walk over to him, trying to keep him from poking me on the forehead. "If you're planning on leaving, Hazel, at least wait until we land on Sauria. Then you and Bella can go look for the Krazoa temple and ask them if they can shed some light on the parasite. Until then, I'm going to have to ask that you don't steal our Arwings so you can leave. We aren't made of money and those things aren't cheap to make." He said after a sigh. I nodded once and grabbed my bag from underneath the Arwing when the speaker system crackled to life.

"Distress beacon received from a colonization ship marked the Aphrodite." ROB's voice echoed in the hanger. Fox ran back out the hanger and in the direction of the bridge, leaving Bella and me alone.

"Wonder what's going on?" She asked as she jumped out of the Arwing and landed next to me, a curious look on her face when I saw her standing behind me. She touched her paw to the small of my back and rubbed it softly while she looked at me. I shrugged my shoulders and pulled the strap on her bag to get it out of the cargo hold when a humming sound reached my ears. I turned back to look at Bella and my eyes went wide when I saw her face. One of her eyes were hanging from the eye socket while the right side of her head was gone, giving her a bloody, lopsided grin. I batted her paw away and dove underneath the Arwing to get away from the horrible face of my friend. I popped up on the other side and tried to even out my breaths while I clutched my chest with the pain my heart was giving me. Bella stepped around to the side I was on and I saw that her face was back to normal. I blinked at her a couple of times before ridding my head of the awful image I saw in it.

"What is wrong with me?" I asked aloud as I sat down on the ground. I looked down at my paws, one a dull silver and the other gloved with a forest green, fingerless glove that Bella had given me, and watched a small discharge of electricity come off of my paw. _I'm a freak, nothing more and nothing less. _I thought bleakly as I slumped defeatedly against the hull of the Arwing, my head making a dull thud against it. I saw Bella walk over to me from the corner of my eye and sit silently next to me, her knees drawn slightly to her chin. She stared at her buggy sitting in the corner of the hanger and I noticed that her eyes bloodshot with bags underneath them. Her fur had lost some of its sheen and her hair was hanging limply next to her face. She looked over at me and gave me a tired smile as she crossed her arms over her knees.

"I haven't told you a lot about myself, have I Hazel?" She asked suddenly, her eyes burning holes into my head. I told her no and she sighed as she looked back over at her buggy. "I wasn't born on Nanuet, Hazel. I was born on Ceria, where I was treated like a princess." I looked at her as if she were crazy, taking in her desert proofed clothing and dual edged staff while also remembering how well of a fighter she was. She ignored my gaze and continued. "I had people waiting on me paw and foot while I never had to worry about things going wrong. Life was paradise for me. I had parents who loved me and bought me nice things, things that made me look beautiful and made me feel superior to those around me. Amazingly, I didn't have any friends at the time, but I saw the other children from time to time. I always ostracized them for not having my beauty or wealth, but I could never shake the feeling that somehow, they were better off than I was. I ignored the feeling for the most part, putting in the back of my mind by indulging in fancy parties and being showed off by my mother to her friends. But it always festered inside me, eating away at my happiness slowly, making me wonder if I was really as well off as I thought.

"It wasn't like I didn't try and make friends, but I just couldn't see how the other children were better off than I was. I wracked my brain for weeks trying to find a solution to it, but I never could find any reason for their joyous smiles when they didn't have fancy play things or gorgeous outfits to wear everyday. It wasn't till I was fifteen and at a masquerade ball that my parents had been invited to that finally understood why I was so miserable, why I wanted friends. I'd been to balls and galas all the time, but this was the first time I'd actually been introduced to the more… perverse side of some of my father's friends. I remember sitting in the garden outside, my hair gently waving in a soft breeze while I was gazing into a reflecting pound surrounded by lilies; the moon setting the water aglow with it's pale light. I had gone outside to get some fresh air when I heard a grunting coming from the bushes nearby. Being curious was always my shortcoming and I was wondering who could've been making that grunting and panting. Coupled with the intoxicating aroma that was wafting on the breeze towards me, I couldn't resist taking a peek through the bushes to find out what was going on. I stuck my head through cautiously, making sure whoever it was couldn't see me, and had to put a paw over my mouth to keep from gasping at what I was seeing. Till that moment in my life I hadn't seen anyone having sex, let alone being so close to such an act, but that what was happening. There were three of them, two raccoons and a tigress, and the tigress had a leash around her neck. One of the raccoons was tugging on the leash roughly; bringing her mouth down onto his long cock while the other was pumping into her violently. I tried run away from the scene I was witnessing, but the smell of the action held me captive, making me long for it. I could clearly see the tears coming from the tigress's eyes and I felt sorry for her, the fact that she was being forced to do that made me forget about the longing and made me angry at the raccoons for forcing themselves onto a helpless woman.

"After that, I couldn't bring myself to look most of my family's friends in the eye, knowing that behind them might lie a perverted mind who'd raped someone in their lifetime. I started spending more time away from all the glamorous things I had been so enthralled with before and began spending more time getting to know the children I had ignored for so long. Some of them had grown up and left me behind for other things, but some of them had stayed to pursue opportunities to marry me." Bella shuddered at the thought and looked at the wall, her eyes looking to her past. "I didn't want to marry any of the suitors that my father had picked out for me for the simple reason that I didn't like any of them. Each one I saw couldn't hold a conversation with me long enough for me to realize that they were staring at my chest. I had to constantly cross my arms over my dress just to keep their attention on my face. But that didn't seem to matter to my father, so long as the suitor had a lot of money to give to the cause. It infuriated me that I didn't have a choice in my future husband, but I never voiced my opinions aloud because I was afraid of what my father would've said. That was when I met Maximillion…" Bella trailed off as a dark scowl heated her features, making her look a lot more fearful than she was a second ago. "He came to see my father one day and of course, my father took an instant liking to him. He was a tall, handsome wolf with fur as black as a new moon and eyes that were a brilliant shade of burgundy. He had velvety soft voice that melted my heart the first time he spoke to me and I found his gaze to be unimaginably deep, as if he'd seen more than his appearance let on. None of that mattered, though, as I couldn't keep myself from him for any length of time. My parents were thrilled that I'd found a suitor who I liked and had set the wedding for the following month. We were to be wed in an enormous ceremony, filled with decorations and guests and expensive things that would've seemed unnecessary to me if I weren't so enthralled by him.

"The closer the date for the wedding got, however, the less I felt for him. I had been so taken in by his charm and grace that I hadn't noticed the way he stared at me when I walked, the lust so apparent in his eyes that I'm surprised he never tried anything whenever we were alone. He did rape me eventually, and my parents asked me about the way I looked at him every day since, but I explained it off as wedding jitters. I never looked at him or my parents the same way again. They were so blinded by the fact that I was getting married to a very well off wolf that they never stopped to think of what it might do to me if I were to get married at eighteen. I cried myself to sleep the day before the wedding and I resolved that I wasn't going to go through with it. I left him waiting at the alter and ran, ran as far away from my old life of luxury and carelessness as I possibly could. I spent the next few years hiding from the search parties that my parents had sent after me, but I made it off the planet without getting caught. Then I stayed on the cargo freighter until I made it to Nanuet and was caught by Alexander. He made me his pet for a couple of months, but found that I was better suited for other work. He taught me how to fight and made me work for him, bringing in new pets for his enjoyment while he kept me from getting taken away. Then you showed up a year later and the rest is history."

"Do you miss them, Bella?" I asked quietly, my head now leaning against her shoulder while I felt tears spilling down my cheeks at the knowledge that she'd gone through a worse life than I had. She let out a dark laugh and shook her head, giving me her answer without a word. I dried my tears on my gloved paw and sighed sadly, letting her words sink in to my head while I wondered if I should tell her my life story or not.

"You don't have to tell me about your life if you don't want to, Hazel. I just needed to vent some of it out of my system before I had an emotional breakdown, that's all." She pointed out as she wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I nodded and decided that if she trusted me with her most intimate memories, then the least I could do was give her mine. I took a deep breath, shuddering breath and stared down at my clasped paws, keeping my eyes down so she wouldn't see my tears.

"What do you see when you look at me, Bella?" I asked in a whisper. "Whenever I see myself in a mirror or a reflective surface, I see what I could become. I see the monster that I was back when I was fighting Falco and I can't stand being around people. My life has been one long, painful heartbreaking journey, making me wonder if I was meant to even live this long. Even as a kid I was constantly in danger. I had been born on Corneria because my parents hadn't wanted to have me born on whatever home planet they'd been raised on, so I didn't know any better. I got strange looks from the adults that I met, but to the kids, I was just another one of them. I met my first real friend in the third grade in a girl named Geno Verfa, and I thought we would get along for the rest of our lives. That all changed when we hit high school, though. Kids I'd grown up with who had never given me anything but smiles and laughter started looking at me funny and I didn't know why. I asked my parents about it, but they never gave me a straight answer. So I got around it and spent more time with Geno while keeping myself busy to avoid the stares I was getting. Then my dad started acting funny. He would lash out at my mom and me for no reason at all, his voice almost cracking with fury one minute and then he'd change to hysterical sadness the next. I could here my parents talking at night and I heard the word death more than once. That was when he went completely insane. He went berserk one night and started beating on my mom. I was asleep through most of it, but I saw him kill her right infront of my eyes. It was the most horrible thing I'd ever seen; my dad, my gentle, loving dad had just murdered my mom. It made no sense to me. I'd always seen them around the house, kissing each other, telling each other how much they loved the other and more than once I had to block out their love making with my pillows.

"But that was what had happened. My mom was dead, my dad was deranged and I was left without a family. I moved in with Geno and stayed with her till the end of college, when I moved in with my boyfriend at the time, Axel Umos. He had a nice apartment and we stayed together for a couple of months…" I trailed off, my eyes blurring with the tears that were pooling on my eyelids. I wiped my eyes again ad looked up to see Bella looking down at me, her eyes soft with understanding. I took another deep breath and continued on to what my life was like up until I met her; the kidnapping, the prison I'd been locked in, meeting Jasper again, and the eventual fight between me and that dragon. When I finished, I found myself hyperventilating from dredging up my worst memories and letting her into my past. She tightened her grip around my shoulders and hugged me closer to her, trying to soothe me with calm words while her paw ran down my back softly. I leaned into her and sobbed silently, my voice drowned out by the blanket of sadness draped over me. _Mom, I miss you so much. I wish you were here to help me through this. _I thought desperately through my sobs, clinging closer to Bella so I could escape my memories. I fell asleep in her arms and I didn't want to wake up.

"Where am I?" I asked aloud, looking around at the stark white walls and closed my eyes against the bright light assaulting my face. I tried to bring my arm up to shield my face, but it wouldn't move. I looked over at my wrists and saw that they were bound in heavy chains, the glare of the light coming off them making me have to squint to see them. They rattled incessantly against my efforts to get free and I started to feel panic setting in.

"_Amazing, truly amazing. I never thought my little symbiotic parasite would be able to do such wonders to the body of my niece. Truly remarkable." An excited voice commented. I looked over in the direction of the voice and saw a set of gleaming eyes glittering at me. The eyes frightened me and I tried to wrestle my way out of the chains to get away from whoever it was, but they tightened around my wrists until they were cutting off the circulation and the blood was starting to drain out of my paws. I felt my paws start to tingle with power, but the energy was siphoned out of me and spiraled into the air above me, leaving me feeling sapped and dreary. _

"_Ah ah ah, we can't have you breaking free now can we?" The voice asked in a condescending tone that made me glare at the eyes angrily, though in reality that was all that I could really do. I heard the click of a lighter being struck and saw the red dot of a cigarette as it was lit before the sound of shoes hitting the ground reached my ears. I continued to glare at the bobbing glow of the cigarette and watched a man walk over next to me. He was a slight fox wearing a lab coat and jeans while a button down beige colored shirt covered his chest. He took another drag of his cigarette and smiled down at me before blowing the smoke into my face. "You know, I can't believe that of all the people that my parasite was forced upon, it had to be you, Hazel. I mean, what were the odds that my brother's daughter would be infected and still be capable of rational thought."_

_He walked over to a table that I couldn't see and came back with a syringe in his paw that looked like a pen and was filled with a sickly yellow substance. I tried to protest him putting that in me, but I didn't have enough strength to open my mouth to speak. He stuck it in my neck and pressed his thumb down on the plunger, sending whatever the liquid was rushing into my veins. I heard the hiss of the substance as it fled through the syringe and felt the deadened sensation in my body intensify as I lost all feeling in my limbs. I even suspected that my heart was slowing down, but that would've meant that my lungs were going to slow down my breathing as well and I wasn't looking forward to having to fight against my lungs just to breathe. _

"_Oh, don't worry, my little blossom," the fox said as he caressed my cheek affectionately, the cigarette slightly obscuring his smile while he brushed some of my hair out of my face. "You're a very rare and unique specimen that I won't let die too quickly. I still have far to many experiments and statistics to run before that happens. Luckily, our species has long lives, so we won't have a limited time together. Just come find me and all your answers'll be answered, Hazey." I was fading in and out of consciousness during his little speech and I couldn't keep my eyelids open any longer. His voice grew fainter as I slipped farther into sleep, though I thought I felt him kiss my forehead and tell me good night, but I wrote those off as hallucinations. "Sleep, my dear. This'll all be over soon…."_

I woke up groggily and groaned as I pawed the sleep from my eyes, a little surprised that I could move my arm again. I heard quiet breathing to my left and looked over to see Bella sleeping next to me, her shoulder rising slightly with each breath. I stared at her bare back and gingerly put a paw to the spot where the syringe had gone into my neck, not feeling anything unusual or strange but feeling as if I had been changed even more. Bella turned over in her sleep and she draped an arm over me, her breath blowing over my face like a wave. I snuggled closer to her underneath the blankets and nuzzled her cheek gently while I replayed the dream I just had, trying to pick out familiar things in it but coming up empty. _What was that? It couldn't've been a dream; it felt too real. _I thought as Bella stirred slightly in her sleep and hugged me closer to her body, her warm fur feeling comfortable against my numb body. I wrapped an arm around her and sighed at the dream, frustrated that I couldn't figure out anything else about it. I settled into the soft, inviting sheets and closed my eyes to try and remember who my uncle was, even though the fox in my dream called me his niece. I faintly remembered seeing him every once and a while when I was a kid, but all my other memories of him where dim and hazy at best. I tried to dig up clearer memories from the back of my head, but the effort gave me a headache and I stopped trying after a few minutes. I yawned quietly and set my head down against the pillow underneath it, my nose inches from Bella's as I fell asleep again, my dreams plagued with blurry images of my uncle and more images of the room I had been in.

**So ends another chapter of Infected. Same deal as every other chapter, DO NOT STEAL MY O.C.'S!!!! **


	10. Part 10: Seperation and Capture

"I hate the Saurian jungles!" Bella muttered for the umpteenth time as she hacked through another vine that had ensnared her. I kept my eyes ahead of me and stifled a laugh while I looked around for any trace of life in the walls of greenery all around us.

"This is going to be a lot harder than Fox led on."

Earlier that day

"Welcome to planet Sauria." Fox said as he stepped out of his Arwing. I nimbly followed him and landed with a thud on my feet as I stared at the lush scenery ahead of me. What made me gape, though, were the dinosaurs walking around and grazing on grass as if they were giant cows. I tore my gaze from them and turned to Fox and was about to ask what we were supposed to be doing here when Bella and her buggy were beamed down onto the planet using the Great Fox's matter transporter. I ignored the bright light and turned back in time to see a giant, topaz scaled triceratops running towards us with a bright smile on his face. He tackled Fox to the ground and started licking his face like a dog while Fox tried to push him off. I didn't know what to make of it, but I wisely stayed out of the way, unless I wanted a tongue bath too. The triceratops got off of him after a minute and looked at me with a curious look while Fox got up off of the ground and introduced me to him. He gave me a translator and I fit it in my ear so I could understand what I was hearing.

"…she's kinda pretty, Fox. You sure she's not your girlfriend, cause you're not with Krystal and well-"

"What… no, no. Hazel and I are just good friends and I'm helping her out with a problem of hers. That's all." Fox quickly cut in, a slight blush showing through his fur at the thought, as if he were hiding something. I giggled and stared at the beautiful landscape around us, taking in the different sights and smells with relish. Tricky looked at me and smiled widely while Fox tried to salvage the conversation by asking what had been going on since he'd last been here, but Tricky wasn't paying any attention to him.

"Hazel, how long have you known Fox for?" He asked, walking past him and staring at me intently. After that, I had to answer a few hundred questions about myself. By the time I was finished, I was feeling exhausted, but did a good job of not showing it. Bella wasn't faring so well, though. Tricky had moved onto her and frequently asked her if she was Krystal, which made me laugh to myself before something occurred to me.

"I just realized something. If we have Arwings that can fly us to the Krazoa temple, why were you planning on letting us make a long trek just to find it?" I questioned Fox while he was fishing something out from inside the cockpit.

"Because… I wasn't thinking at the time and it would be a good use of Bella's buggy, that's why." Fox replied as he climbed back down to the ground, holding a pair of binoculars in one paw and a collapsible P-90 that fired anesthetic rounds in the other. "I'm also coming with, so there isn't anything that could go wrong."

Present

I stumbled through the undergrowth noisily, crashing through bushes while low-lying branches poked at my head and unseen thorns cut through my sleeves. I heard Bella swearing behind me and Fox stumbling with her while he cut down errant bushes in his way. I sat down on a felled tree to catch my breath and glared seethingly in Fox's direction. "'So there isn't anything that could go wrong.'" I mocked him loudly as he sat down next to me.

"How was I supposed to know that Bella's buggy would get caught in quicksand, huh? Besides, we're making good time, so hopefully we'll be near the Red Eye temple by sundown and then we can get a ride on a warp stone to the Krazoa palace." Fox huffed defensively as he drank from a canteen he'd brought with him. I laughed sarcastically and grabbed the canteen from him before taking a couple of gulps of my own. I put the cap back on it and chucked it back at him before dragging an electrified claw over any exposed body parts, making any hitchhiking bugs drop dead out of my fur. Bella tripped on a root and fell face first infront of us, scrabbling up off the ground while batting at her clothes to get bugs and twigs out from underneath her shirt.

"I hate this place!" She yelled furiously as she shrugged off her backpack and sat down on the dirt. I had to admit, after the initial beauty this place had shown me, I was getting pretty fed up with the stifling humidity and the constant tint of green that the canopy of leaves made overhead. I swatted a mosquito away from my face and shoved Fox lightly on the shoulder, catching him off balance and making fall backwards off the log.

"Oops, sorry Fox. Guess this jungle heat makes me a little crazy. But that probably wouldn't have happened if we were just to fly to the palace instead of walk there, now would it?" I asked innocently as I helped him onto his feet.

"Okay fine, I messed up, happy? Could we just drop it and move on?" Fox asked irritatedly as he shouldered his pack and trudged on ahead of me, soon getting swallowed by the foliage around us. I quickly went after him and heard Bella muttering intelligibly about her hatred for the planet as she stumbled after me.

"Oh come on, Fox, I was only kidding. Don't be such a baby about it." I replied as I caught up with him, smiling disarmingly so he'd stop fuming. He turned to look at me for a second and looked back ahead as with his scowl deepening each step he took. _I might have pushed him a little far. _I thought guiltily as we walked in relative silence, our boots making crunching noises as they crushed leaves and other things underfoot. I chewed lightly on my bottom lip nervously and tried to think of a way to apologize to him that would make up for how I'd been acting lately, but was coming up short. _I'm a terrible friend. He took me in and gave me a place to stay while I deal with this and this is how I repay him?_

_Seems that way._ The sarcastic side of me stated quietly. I glowered awkwardly at the ground and struggled to keep up with the burning pace Fox was blazing through the forest. I chanced a look back and saw Bella more than a few feet behind us, her eyes burning with anger while she hurried after us. I looked back infront of me and ran headlong into a low-lying branch that was jutting out just at neck level. I felt the ground fall out from underneath me and I went sprawling onto my back, dragging down a couple of breaths through my temporarily restricted throat before rolling onto my stomach and pushing myself onto my feet. The motion made me dizzy and I swayed on my feet while my vision steadied and my paw was clutching my neck to pick out any splinters the branch may have left. I heard a loud hiss from my left and turned to find myself starring into the bronze eyes of an angry snake, his head swaying slightly while its forked tongue flicked out repeatedly, smelling the air around me to see if I tasted good. Before I could even bring my paws up to stop it, the snake struck out at me and sank its fangs into my neck, the serrated teeth injecting me with a quick acting venom that paralyzed my limbs so as to keep me from fighting back. I stumbled backwards for a few feet, my paw desperately trying to pull the snake from off of me and fell down through a clump of bushes, only to fall out into empty space. I turned my head slightly to see the tops of trees much farther down than I had ever hoped that they would be and screamed as me and the enormous python plummeted to our deaths. I saw both Bella and Fox stick there heads out to watch me fall and I thought I heard Fox cry out my name, but the wind whipping past my face snatched away any noise that I could've heard. The python let go of my neck and I watched as it was flown away by a massive pterodactyl, much to my amusement and also terror. I sent a few charges through my body to chase out the venom in my blood stream and twisted to see that the ground was closer than it had been but was still a ways away from killing me.

_Okay, I'm falling to my death at probably more than thirty feet per second and I really don't want to end up as a splatter on the Saurian landscape. What should I do now? _I thought as I pulled my arms out of the straps of my backpack and gripped it in my paw before angling my body so that it was parallel to the cliff side. I looked back at the ground and saw that it was getting a lot closer by the minute and I needed to do something fast to keep from dying. The sun glinted off my infected arm and I got an idea that would probably end up killing me if it didn't work. _Oh well, what do I have to lose?_ I thought with a mental shrug as I brought my arm up with my fingers curled into claws and counted off a hundred seconds in my head before digging my claws into the hard rock wall, sending shards of sharp granite flying into the air above me while my claws left channels in the rock as I tried to slow my descent. The wind was still whipping past my face, but it wasn't stinging my eyes as it had been a few seconds ago and I could start to hear again, not that there was anything to hear other than the sound of my own racing heartbeat and the sound of rock crumbling above me. I let go for a few seconds and went at the wall again, slowing down my descent even more the second time and reducing the amount of debris I was creating. By the fourth time I had used this method of slowing down, I was level with the trees and could hear clearly again, so I let go of the cliff side for one more try and dug my claws in so I came to a halt a few feet off of the forest floor. I dropped those last few feet and landed with a thud as I dropped my bag onto the ground and panted heavily from exerting so much effort into saving myself, my fingers on my right paw red hot from the friction the drop had given me. I sat down hard and let my paw cool off while I looked up at the furrows that my fingers had left, beads of sweat dripping into my eyes when I shook my head in disbelief at the feat I just pulled off. I threw my fist up in the air and grinned ear to ear with adrenaline still coursing through my veins like a potent drug.

_I am awesome._ I thought smugly as I pulled my backpack over to my side and started rummaging through it for anything useful. I pulled a few rations out from the bottom and put them on the ground before reaching back in and pulling out a wrist-mounted computer with a small screen and a power button on the side. I strapped it onto my right wrist and went back to rummaging until I had everything in the bag out infront of me own the ground. There were five ration packets, a pistol that shot small electrical pulses that amplified the emotions of any given target, a couple of bottles of water and a hooded camouflage jacket incase it rained. I stuffed everything but the pistol and a bottle of water back into the backpack and took a long drink from it as I looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings I had been placed in. I stuck the pistol into the waistband of my jeans so that it lay against the small of my back and drained the rest of my water bottle before getting back on my feet and shouldering my pack as I walked off through a clump of bushes, trying to keep my current situation off my mind. I turned on the computer and continued my trek as it booted up, making me a little bit edgy as the small whirs could attract something with very developed hearing.

"_Welcome to the O.C.C.P.U. How may I be of assistance to you?" _ A mechanical voice droned out of the computer on my wrist. I looked down to see a white wolf covered in red markings and a flaming shield on its back sitting on its haunches in the middle of a grassy field. I stopped underneath the eaves of a tree and sat down against the trunk while I fiddled with the screen a little. I touched the wolf's nose and it barked happily as a menu screen popped up. I groaned at the thought of reading manuals and selected the icon with a speaker on it that led to another menu with weapons as the icons and pressed the one with a weird sword that looked like it had ten edges and was brought back to the home menu, but the scenery was different. The sky had changed to night with stars dotting the horizon while the moon stood in all its glory in the middle of the screen, hovering above a calm meadow and throwing everything in a pale glow. Sitting in the forefront of the scene was a black furred fox with what looked to be silver markings on its sides and flank while nine-tails splayed out from behind it. On it's shoulder, I could make out the handle of the sword I had seen for picking this particular avatar.

"_Why'd you wake me up, huh? I was having a nice nap in the back when you had to come along and press my icon. So what do you want?"_ The fox asked irritably as it glared up at me from off the screen. I glared back at it and looked around to see if anything had heard the small computer before looking back at it with a calm look in my eyes. I probed around for the mute button and shut the volume off before continuing on my way through the forest, humming slightly to myself to keep my steps in time.

The sun was setting by the time I reached a cave I could use for sleep purposes and I quickly looked around for fuel for a fire before doing anything else. I piled the bunch of dead twigs, branches and leaves in a well-hidden nook towards the back of the cave and waited for night to fall before lighting it with a spark from my paw. I pulled the jacket out of the bag and used it as a blanket while I ate a ration slowly, trying to make the meager meal last as long as I could. The fox on my computer hadn't been much help, but it did find me this cave and map me out a course that would take me to the Red Eye temple. Right now, it was taking a nap on the grass with its sword gleaming in the moonlight. I could hear its quiet snores and muted the computer so I could try and get some sleep before I had to keep going in the morning. I smothered the flames with some mud I found in the back of the cave and lay down against the cave wall, letting the sounds of the planet outside put me to sleep.

"Do yous thinks she is good eats?"

"I don't know, but she looks good to me." A couple of growling voices conversed over me as I blearily opened my eyes. Everything was smudgy, but I could sort of make out two distinct blobs of orangeish color. The voices stopped when I rubbed my eyes so I could see straight and I heard two sets of feet retreating to the entrance of the cave as I yawned. I stiffly sat up and stretched until my shoulder cracked and looked around to see that whoever the two who were talking about me where cautiously walking back over to me, their wooden staves upraised in a flawed defensive stance while they shuffled over to me. They looked like giant lizards wearing torso body armor, but their sickle like claws and hungry eyes kept me from making fun of them. I slowly brought my paws up to show that I wouldn't be a threat to them and interlocked my fingers behind my head as I got up onto my feet, my pistol still tucked behind my back. The lizards warily looked me over but lingered mostly on my breasts, staring at them as if they hadn't ever seen anything like them before. I rolled my eyes and brought my paws to my sides before pulling out the pistol, hitting them both between the eyes with shots that had them out cold before they could even blink. I gathered up my stuff and followed their footsteps out of the cave and into the jungle, the impressions their weight made on the soil easy enough to track.

It took me most of the morning to find where they came from, but it didn't make me any happier that I had. _I had walked over two miles through mud and bugs and swamps just to find a wall?! _I thought angrily as I punched the giant wall out of frustration, sending a small fissure up from where I had hit. I took a step to my left and heard a rustle from the bushes, closely followed by the loud explosion of a dart rifle. I felt the dart hit me just above the elbow of my left arm and fell to the ground instantly, the tranquilizer knocking me out before I had a chance to react.

I felt frigid water splash over my face and I was alert instantly, my eyes darting around to take in everything before I tore it all to shreds. There were a lot of loud noises around me, but the most pressing concern to me was the loud, high-pitched whine sounding in my ears. The sound made my teeth rattle in my mouth and I tried to find the source of the noise, but the pain it was giving me made it hard to concentrate. I struggled to bring my paws up to my ears to block out the noise, but they were currently tied behind my back by a set of handcuffs each and each set were cuffed to the chair I was sitting on, so I couldn't move them more than an inch. I looked around the dark tent to find out more about my surroundings when the whine suddenly stopped, only to be replaced by an annoying tapping. I turned my head in the direction of the sound and spotted a person sitting in a chair next to a table covered in my gear. He was wearing the camouflage jacket I had been using as a blanket and a pair of running shorts on while his hair stood up in spikes that were colored in an assortment of colors. I took it from the look on his face that he was obviously happy with his find and I glared at him through narrow slits as the whine came back in full force next to my head, making me grind my teeth in agony.

"Hurts, doesn't it, freak?" A voice said from behind me as I struggled against the bonds so I could kill whoever was doing this to me. The whine stopped as suddenly as it started and a new, reptilian face interrupted my view. He had the same crimson colored eyes I had and a deep green color to his scales while his teeth were bared in a snarl, showing his razor sharp teeth that were discolored yellow from either smoking or bad hygiene, I couldn't tell. The reptile opened his mouth to say something, but I beat him to the punch with a swift kick to his groin and a head butt to his skull that gave me a splitting headache the moment I connected with his head. He toppled over onto his back and clutched his crotch while he rolled on the ground; tears of pain streaming down his cheeks while he swore at me angrily. I spit on his face and looked over at the human to see that he was laughing.

"Well, at least what Michael told us wasn't wrong; you are a fighter and a scrappy one at that. I might grow to like you in the time we're here." He said as he picked up my pistol and looked it over, twisting it around as he found the catch and popped out the ammo clip to look it over as well before putting both back onto the table. I looked back down at the groaning reptile and stomped down on his crotch again, making him pass out while I hoped he broke a few of his fingers as well.

"Guess that'll teach him to restrain the legs as well as the arms." I muttered angrily as I slumped back into my chair, getting my breathing under control while I watched the human out of the corner of my eye. He was sitting there with his arms crossed over his chest and the hood of my jacket up, but he was still watching me. _Probably to make sure I don't make a break for it. _I thought bitterly.

"Actually, that isn't a hundred percent true." He said brightly, much to my surprise. "I'm staying because I haven't had decent company except for you in over two years. It gets annoying having to talk to the same people over and over again. And yes, I did just read your thoughts, sorry." He apologized with a grin. At first, I thought he was joking, so I didn't give him the benefit of the doubt, but I wanted to see if he could actually pull it off.

"Okay then, if you can read my mind, what is my full name?" I asked with an incredulous look on my face while I thought about making fun of him. He sighed and pulled his hood back to look at me clearly and ran a hand through his spiky hair as his lips were pulled in a tight line of concentration.

"Your full name is Hazel Naomi Eros, though you sometimes go by the nickname of Hazey and you are twenty-four years old. How'd I do?" He asked smugly as he re-crossed his arms. My jaw dropped before I could contain myself and stared at him as if he were insane. "I get that reaction a lot, so gape away my furry friend." He said nonchalantly. I closed my mouth and started reciting complex physics equations in my head while I tried to make a flame in my paw. The man looked at me as if I were amusing him and started tapping out a drum beat on the table top next to him, making me think harder about the equations and the theory of interdimensional travel I had heard from a professor at my university so I could mask the fact that I was burning the cuffs to mush.

"So, you know my name but how about telling me yours? Common courtesy you know." I said while I melted through the first cuff. He looked up from his hands to look at me and shook his head.

"I would've let you out if you just asked, Hazel. And as for my name, it's Felix." He said as he heard the clink of the handcuff as it slid down to the ground. I blushed at my stupidity and clenched my paw into a fist to get the blood flowing again.

"Okay fine, Felix. Could you please unlock these handcuffs from around my wrists? I would really appreciate it if you did." I asked through my teeth while I gave the passed out reptile a savage kick in the side from where I was sitting. Felix chuckled and snapped his fingers, making the remaining handcuff disintegrate around my wrist. I stretched my arms above my head and got up out of the chair when something tripped me back onto the floor. I hit the ground with a thud and saw the reptile's angry face a mere inches from mine, his terrible breath washing over me and making me want to gag.

"In case you were wondering, my name's Dante and I really don't like being kicked. I hope you like being tortured, vixen, cause there's gonna be a lot of it in your future." He said with a deep grin on his face that made some primal part of me want to run away from him, but instead I just grinned up at him endearingly and let my paw rest against his side.

"I hope you like surprises, Dante, cause I do." I said sweetly as I sent a massive shock throughout his body, launching him up into the air and crashing into the chair he'd kept me tied up in. I jumped to my feet and was about to make a bolt for the tent's entrance flap when I heard a click. I turned to see Felix holding a massive pistol in his hand and a smile on his face, as if daring me to try and make a run for it. _Great… I'm not going anywhere anytime soon._ I thought, knowing that he'd put a round through my head before I could even think of escaping. I saw Dante get up slowly out of the corner of my eye, a paw to his head while he glared at me with murder in his eyes and his lips curled back over his teeth in a demonic sort of smile. I turned my full attention to Dante, ignoring the pressing matter of a gun toting Felix for the moment, and let a bolt of electricity arc into the ground next to me as I clenched my paw into a fist. He leaned slightly forward, his weight transferred to the tips of his feet while a familiar shine caught my eye. Through a tear in his shirt from where the chair had gouged him, I saw a patch of the same infected material that covered my arm. This made my confidence drop a few notches because I knew that when you get infected with this thing, extreme stress brings out the worst in you. He launched himself at me and I nearly ducked away from him when he caught my leg with his claws, stopping me in my tracks while sending pain shooting through my leg. I twisted around and gave him a kick to the chest, but it barely fazed him and he chuckled darkly at the attempt. He picked me up with one arm and sent me flying through a tent wall and out into the open clearing that the tent had been put up in. I quickly pounced onto my feet and barely blocked the roundhouse that he'd aimed at my head. I pushed his leg back and caught him off guard with a solid jab to the chin. He stumbled back a few steps and spit out some blood before coming at me again, his claws flashing past my face as I dodged quickly to avoid his blows. I aimed a quick shot at his throat and got caught by the arm as he shoved roughly down onto my elbow, making it snap like a twig under the pressure. I swore loudly as pain started shooting up and down my arm, but he punched me in the stomach hard enough to send the breath whooshing out of my lungs. I tried to gasp down a breath or two as I sank to my knees, but he lashed out with a steel-toed boot and caught me between the ribs. I coughed painfully when I heard one of the bones snap, but Dante just laughed and pushed me down onto the ground with his boot on my back.

"How does it feel to be underneath my boot and groveling like a dog, Hazel? I bet the dirt tastes good, huh?" He goaded contemptuously as he ground his heel into the base of my neck. He lifted his boot off of my back before stomping down onto my broken arm, making me whimper at the sound of another snap. "You know there's an easy way out of this, vixen," he said conversationally as he leveled his boot against my left shoulder so he could dislocate it as well. "All you have to do is beg me to stop and call me master. Then maybe we could find a nice use for that mouth of yours. What do ya say?"

As soon as he had uttered the word master, memories of the fury and indignation I had felt under the influence of Alexander's control had come rushing back to me and a veil of crimson washed over my eyes as the bones in my arm started knitting themselves back together. A black aura started creeping its way up my infected arm and soon engulfed my entire body while strength began flooding through my every pore, fueled by my rage and my want to survive. My fur started to bristle against the contact of his boot and I disappeared from underneath him and reappeared behind him, my body now totally controlled by the influence of the powers in my body. A low growl erupted from my throat and continued until it became a full blown snarl while energy hissed underneath my claws like a nest of eager vipers, all waiting to be unleashed on the unsuspecting idiot who dared anger me. Dante turned around with a surprised look in his eyes before I slammed my fist into his chest, making a loud snap as he went flying. I warped above him and forced my foot into his stomach before sending him crashing into the ground. I landed on the outer edge of the crater the impact had created and was about to continue pummeling him when he started chuckling. He crawled out of the hole I had sent him into and laughed victoriously as he jumped to his feet, ripping off his shirt in the process. The infection had spread across his chest entirely and now covered both his arms while making his claws serrated and as sharp as knives.

"My, aren't we the interesting woman. Seems things have gotten a lot more exciting." He said with a grin as he leapt towards me faster than the human eye could follow. For me, on the other hand, he looked as if he were moving in slow motion. I ducked his slashing claws and kicked out with my knee as he flew over me, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to come crashing down onto the ground. I let a dark flame bloom into existence in the middle of my palm and was about to light him on fire when someone grabbed me by the neck from behind and threw down into the crater with enough force to make me gasp. I rolled to my feet and opened my mouth to snarl at the one who had interrupted my vengeance when a massive shock of electricity went through my body, sending me down onto the ground and writhing in agony as wave after wave of pain rolled through my body. I panted as the pain subsided to a dull throbbing behind my right eye, but I found that I couldn't move from the submissive pose I was in now, my head bowed and on my paws and knees.

"I won't have you fighting as long as you are under my leadership, Dante." A distantly familiar voice reprimanded angrily.

"But Dawn, I was just defending myself-"

"I don't care if you were defending yourself! What kind of example is that setting if we fight with those we are paid to collect? Do you know what Michael would do to you if you ended up killing his niece, huh? The parasite he's got burrowed into you should be proof enough. And even if you didn't have it inside of you, I would've killed you myself. Now," she said as she stepped into the crater and towered over me, her shadow blacking out some of the space infront of me. The next time she spoke, though, her voice was a lot softer and much more kind. "It's been a while, Hazel. Can't believe that we've had to meet under these circumstances, but fate is fickle." My eyes went wide when she said my name and I had to whisper the name aloud to make myself believe it. "Maxi…"

The immense amount of power my body had coursing through it extinguished itself and I dropped onto the soft dirt as the aura sunk back into my body, exhaustion weighing my arms and legs down while I tried to wrap my brain around the situation I was in. She tilted my chin up with her finger and flashed me a dazzling smile that sent shivers down my spine. Her hair was cut a little differently so as to act like a frame for her feline face and it was dyed a deep shade of burgundy while her dark chocolate eyes gazed warmly down at me. Her fur was still the same charcoal gray it had always been, but a pair of black cargo pants and a white tank top mostly covered it up. I tried to lift my head from off of the ground to see her a little better, but my body was still tingling from the numbing shock I'd just had to endure and it wouldn't respond right. I did have enough strength to roll over and stare intently at her face, but there was darkness starting to creep into my vision on the edges and I was feeling kind of tired.

"Oh, sorry about that, Hazey. Didn't think the shock was strong enough to put you down for this long. You should probably lie down for a while, seeing as your arms and legs'll probably feel like jelly for the next few hours." She said sheepishly as scooped me up in her arms. I curled into a ball and wrapped my arms around her neck while my head rested against her shoulder.

"Seems things haven't changed since I saw you last, Maxi." I joked weakly before I nodded off with a quiet giggle.

**If any of you want to ask why I added a P-90 into the story, don't. I was running out of ideas and playing MGS4 at the time, so add two and two together and you get the anesthetic P-90. Maxi is mine, Dante is mine, and Felix is mine. Same drill as before. And if you get the reference of the O.C.C.P.U, consider yourself smart. Chapter 11 should be up soon and I'm open to suggestions for a mercenary team name. All ideas are welcome and I will consider them fairly. Till next time.**


	11. Part 11: Michael SE

It was dark in the testing facility far below my office, though I wouldn't be surprised if everyone one of my 'experiments' could see perfectly. I stuck a cigarette in my mouth and cupped my paw to keep the lighter's flame from being blown out from the draft coming in through one of the open windows of my office. The view was gorgeous, although I never really did have time to admire the beauty that this place could give off. The sun was rising just over the mountains in the east and set the sky as well as the ocean ablaze with a purplish golden hue. It was a breathtaking sight and it helped me relax, though I couldn't stare it forever. I tapped a simple command into a console embedded into the arm of my chair and watched the image fade away, slowly being replaced by a bank of monitors that relayed a constant feed from every cell that was in the facility, the glow of which was casting an eerie glow to my office and throwing awkward shadows everywhere. I stared at each of the cell's occupants in turn before letting my eyes rest on a particular cell that was bigger than the rest. The floor was covered in debris from the ceiling and walls while a massive chunk of the wall seemed to have been ripped out of the farthest wall away from the camera. I sighed and leaned back into my chair, clicking my paws together as I switched the feed to the hallway outside my office, the lights flickering and shutting off after a couple of seconds. I heard the hiss of the door sliding open and I grinned darkly as I heard the quiet breathing of the escaped experiment reach my ears.

"Ah Ms. Setzuka, seems you've broken out of your cage again. I really have to reinforce those walls with raritanium this time if your going to stay put." I said calmly as I swiveled around in my chair to face the furious vixen. She snarled in my direction and lifted her paw in a fist, a purple glow surrounding it while her eyes flashed with the color of a frozen dawn. I got up out of my chair and pointed a claw lazily at her, as if giving a sorry excuse for a wave. Her arm went limp to her side and she started floating until her head was touching the ceiling, her bare feet flailing uselessly while her paws were at her throat, trying to push something away from her so she could breathe normally. I smirked and relaxed the flow of power coursing through my body, letting her fall bodily onto the ground with a hard thud while she rasped for breath. I walked confidently towards her and nudged her chin with my boot so that she was looking up at me, a look of pure hatred in my eyes that made her quail from me, though there was still hatred in her eyes. "You're not even worthy of licking my boots clean and yet you think you can come in here to try and end my life? Somewhere along the line of my trials, I must've knocked a couple points of your IQ for you to even think that. You better be thankful that I still need you for my research or I'd incinerate you till there wasn't even an atom left. Do I make myself clear?" I asked in a dangerously calm voice, letting my paw ignite with a white flame and relit my cigarette. She nodded understandingly and I took my boot away so that her head fell onto the floor. Just as I was about to turn my back on her, my thoughts turned back to my niece, wondering how her body was taking the parasite inside of her. _She's probably fighting with it to keep control of her body. Just as well too, I wouldn't want all of the work I'd put into her to go to waste. _I thought with a grin as the flame from my paw extinguished itself and I took the cigarette out of my mouth to blow a puff of smoke into the air. I looked back down at the vixen cowering against the wall with a paw to her throat; her eyes back to their strange copper tint and her fur back to its snow white while her paw was still at her throat, as if expecting her lungs would stop working at any second. She cringed closer to the wall when I knelt down infront of her and her eyes went wide with fright when I brushed a claw across her cheek, feigning compassion so she would trust me again. "I'm sorry, Ammy, I didn't mean to get angry with you and threaten your life in that way. I should've been more considerate of your feelings. Do I have your forgiveness, love?" I asked tenderly before pressing my lips against hers. She reacted hesitantly and returned the kiss as she held my paw in hers. I pulled my lips from hers and grinned at her as I helped her onto her feet.

"Will you sleep with me tonight? I don't want to be alone…" Amber asked quietly as she looked at the ground. I lifted her chin with my finger and nodded. She perked up considerably and walked out of my office in the direction of my seldom-used bedroom. When I was sure she was out of earshot, I swore angrily and spit the cigarette butt onto the floor before wiping my mouth on my arm. I scowled at no one in particular and walked after her, cursing the need to do this in the first place. _All in the name of vengeance, Michael, just remember that. You'll have your prize in a matter of hours if Maxi is true to her word. Just muscle through this night and you'll have Hazel at your mercy by sunup._ I reassured myself with a smirk. I made it to my bedroom and stepped through the doorway to find Amber already asleep underneath the sheets, her clothes folded neatly at the foot of the bed while she snuggled into the many pillows she had around her. I sighed and turned around to wait in my office for the arrival of my niece, already thinking up ideas for what I would do to make her feel welcome. As I walked, I started remembering things from my past; my parents faces as I brutally tortured and murdered them, the face of the only one I'd ever loved being taken from me and the satisfyingly tortured cries of the ones who'd tried to kill me. They made me feel good inside and I couldn't wait to take my frustration out on my niece. I quickly made my way down the hallway past my office and ended on the other side of the complex before I knew it. I entered a passcode into the keypad next to it and listened to the door hiss as it opened, revealing a pitchblack room where the only light entering was engulfed by the utter blackness. I took a step forward and immediately the door closed behind me, the darkness hugging to me like a second skin before a luminescent glow from a couple of yards ahead lit my way. I walked carefully towards it and put my paw to the glass tube the light was coming from, my eyes glued on the fur floating in the liquid, her russet colored fur shining in the light while her silver hair floated alongside her face like a nest of living serpents. There was an oxygen mask attached to her muzzle so she could breathe while a flight vest and a pair of jeans covered her body, her eyes closed in an eternal sleep that could only be broken if his pulse stopped beating. I felt a tear ooze down my cheek slowly before quickly wiping it away. I looked at her peaceful face and yearned to feel her lips against mine again, but I knew that the time wasn't right for her to be free.

"She'll be here within the next few hours, my love. Once the operation is complete, you'll be whole again. I know you won't like how I do it, but this is to keep you alive. I can't live without the fact that your still alive somehow, and if I were to die without seeing your smile again, then my life truly has been a failure." I said lovingly to the sleeping wolfess in the tube, her unmoving eyes and lips hurting me as if I had been shot in the stomach. I turned my back on her and made my way to the door before looking over my shoulder at her one last time, the hope swelling in my chest hard to contain with a cure so close at hand. "You will be whole again, Sasha. Hazel will make that happen." I promised her before walking out of the room, leaving my one and only love alone once again, my mind returning to the task at hand.

**Thought I'd introduce you guys to the infamous Michael. This is the only chapter from his POV, so don't get used to it. I needed to take a break from Hazel and her ever growing company cause I couldn't think of anything. If this seems short, tough and if you complain about it, then go read something else. Hazel's POV for next chapter. **


	12. Part 12: Choices

I woke up with a horrible headache and found myself staring up at the gray steel ceiling of a ship hanger bay. I sat up and put a paw to my head with a grown as I took in my surroundings, wondering if I had always been on a ship and dreamt up the entire trip through Sauria. I felt a sting in my arm and looked down to see an IV drip stuck in the crook of my elbow on my left arm. I pulled the needle from my arm and let the tube hang off the side the of the bed before climbing out of bed stiffly, looking around to see three Arwing-like ships with forward swept wings and a black, silver and sky blue color scheme. The one closest to me had a version of the Zapper from Panther Caruso's Wolfen on each side of the main body, but they had plasma couplers as well as raritanium blaster caps along the length of the barrels. I walked towards the beautiful ship in a daze, my eyes wide in wonder at the gleaming marvel of technology infront of me. I ran my fingertips along the hull of the fighter with a sigh of admiration, wishing I could be able to fly such a machine.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Felix asked from above me. I looked up and saw him smiling down at me from the cockpit adjacent the one I was looking at. I smiled up at him and nodded before remembering what had happened to me earlier. "Dante's fine, although I don't know why you care. The guy almost killed you but I think you'll be happy to know that Maxi's kept him in the training room to cool his head without food ever since we got onboard." He replied to my thoughts with a chuckle as he offered a hand to pull me into the fighter. I glowered up at him and grabbed his hand before climbing up into the spacious cockpit, seating easily in the pilot's chair while Felix sat in the gunnery chair, his feet dangling over the edge while a soda can was balanced on his stomach. I reached behind me and snatched it off of his stomach before taking a drink from it, looking at all of the instruments adorning the dashboard while letting my paw rest on the throttle. My eyes widened in disgust and I spit out the soda I was drinking over the edge of the fighter, spitting four more times to get the horrible taste out of my mouth.

"What kind of soda is this?!" I demanded with a glare in Felix's direction, giving him a punch when I saw him laughing.

"That wasn't soda, but oil we use for the fighters. Can't believe you actually drank something from a stranger in an unfamiliar place you just woke up in." He laughed as he held his stomach in mock pain. I threw the can at him and jumped out of the fighter, only to slip on a stray puddle of oil and lose my balance. I quickly recovered and glowered ahead of me as I walked away from the hanger, Felix's laughter still ringing in my ears. I stormed off through the doors connecting the hanger to the rest of the ship and found myself in a long hallway lit with plasma strips along its length. I took a right and followed the signs until I stopped at a door marked 'firing range and combat training'. I walked into the room and was almost immediately set upon by three mid-sized drones armed with a bo-staff each. I dove forward between them and sprung to my feet before lashing out at them in turn, each one crumpling to the ground with a hum as they deactivated. I picked up one of the discarded bo-staffs and got used to its feel before swinging it behind me, stopping the flat edge an inch from Dante's muzzle.

"You know it isn't kind to sneak up on women like that. Gives the wrong impression and might make you seem like a thief." I told him without turning around as I watched the drones start getting up. I heard a heavy sigh, which was closely followed by metallic thumps as more drones stepped over until we were surrounded. I felt Dante's back up against mine and grinned as one of the drones shot forward towards me, lasting less than three seconds against the blow I leveled it with. I broke away from him and started swinging the staff left and right while he attacked with his claws and, felling one drone after another with deadly efficiency. I broke the wooden staff over a drone's head and threw the broken staff into another's before switching to my paws, my claws shining in the false sunlight overhead as they brought down drone after drone until there weren't any left standing. I put my paws on my knees and panted slightly as sweat dripped off my forehead onto the floor, my heart racing from the fight and my brain craving more. I stood up to see the drones littering the ground and smiled to myself when I saw Dante sitting on the ground nursing a bruise he'd gotten on his arm. He noticed me staring and gave me a nod of approval before getting to his feet, sweat making his green scales glisten.

"You fight well, Hazel." He complimented grudgingly with a forced smirk before he went over to a bench embedded into the far wall. I took a step in his direction and felt one of the drones closest to me grip my ankle with a forceful pull, making me trip and fall onto my face. I twisted around and kicked out with my free foot to crack the flexi-steel skull and deactivate the drone again. I pushed off the ground and jumped to my feet before treading carefully through the corpses, occasionally having to crush a skull underfoot to keep from getting tripped up again before sitting down on the opposite end of the bench.

"You had to make them zombie like, didn't you?" I asked with a glower in Dante's direction. He chuckled mockingly and my glower turned to a full on death glare while an aura of electricity surrounded my fist. He noticed it and smirked as he let his hand morph into an armored fist.

"If I remember right, we have a little fight to finish, vixen." He threatened with a growl, his eyes going black with power.

"I couldn't agree more, scales." I answered as the black aura surrounded me again. We stood up at the same time and I jumped away from him before kicking up a fallen bo-staff into my paw, letting a slow burning flame engulf it so it was hardened and blackened. Dante ripped a panel from the wall and proceeded to roll and flatten it until it was in the rough shape of a staff. I snarled at him and barreled towards him before leaping high into the air and bringing the staff down onto his, making a loud crack as the two collided. We glared into each other's eyes before he pushed me back with a strong, forward swing. I landed on the ground a few feet away and twirled the staff around in my fingers while I let a bolt of black electricity fly at him from my free paw. He absorbed the shock with his arm and redirected it back at me through the tip of his staff, making my fur stand on end and send me flying backwards into the wall, leaving an indent where I'd hit. I slid down onto the floor and dodged to the side as Dante's staff collided with the spot my head had been a second ago. I stuck an electrified paw in his face and sent him reeling before my foot connected with the side of his head, knocking him senseless as he stumbled sideways. I smashed my staff into his ribcage and heard a sickening crack as both the wood and a couple of his ribs broke. He held a hand to his side and roared angrily at me before disappearing as the lights went out.

"Lets see how well you do in the dark, vixen." I heard him sneer as I walked cautiously forward, stumbling every now and then because I was all but blind in the pitch darkness. I felt a sharp pain in my lower back and was thrown to the floor when Dante's staff struck me. I rolled to my feet and heard a faint whoosh of air to my right, so I dropped to the floor and felt the wind as the staff passed over my head. I sprung to my feet and let a ball of electricity form in my paw, but still the darkness persisted. "Blackout generators work wonders on keeping those powers of yours under wraps, so no cheating this time." He scolded in a voice sounding as if he were chastising a child. I let the ball absorb back into my paw and forced myself to calm down so the darkness wouldn't let me panic. I tried to listen for any odd sounds; a rustle of metal, the sound of pawsteps, heavy breathing, anything that would give away his position, but it was hard to do so when my own hammering heart and the blood rushing in my ears were so loud. It took an agonizing half a minute to calm myself down and I closed my eyes to open up my other senses, trying to hear everything like Krystal had taught me. I heard an almost imperceptible rustle behind me and shot my paw out to catch the staff before gripping it in both paws and flipping him over my back onto the floor with a hard thud. I stuck the staff on his chest and heard a metallic ping, realizing too late that I was fighting another drone. The lights flashed on, blinding me for a second, and I was hit heavily in the stomach by Dante's fist, the impact driving the wind out of me and sending me to my knees. I looked up and saw him smirking dangerously as he brought his knee up into my chin, sending me onto my back and knocking a tooth out of my mouth. "Do you submit?" He asked as he leveled a staff against my jugular, pressing down slightly to barely restrict my breathing. I growled in defiance before giving a defeated sigh, my ears drooping disgustedly at what I had to say.

"Yes, Dante, I submit." I growled. He took the staff from my throat and offered a hand to help me up. I took it and climbed to my feet with a subdued scowl on my face. "I wouldn't get too comfy on the top, if I were you Dante. It's a long way down and you'll have to watch your back as long as I'm onboard." I threatened with a smile as I took my paw back. He chuckled and stared me down before tossing his makeshift staff away.

"Wouldn't have it any other way, vixen. I look forward to a good fight." He threatened back as he made his way to the door, his arm turning back to normal as he walked. I followed after him and noticed the numerous scars crisscrossing their way across his back and along his neck. _Wonder what happened to him?_ I thought as he stopped at the doorway, letting the door slide open while he stepped aside to let me pass. "If you see Maxi, tell her I'm getting hungry." He said as I walked out into the hallway. I nodded and heard the door hiss shut as I walked off down the hall again, searching for other things to do. It didn't take me long to make it to the bridge and I found Maxi sitting in the command chair with her head in her paws, her shoulders shaking as her sobs reached my ears. I quietly stepped over to her and put an arm around her shoulder, catching her by surprise and making her look up at me with tears running down her gray cheeks. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying so much while her ears flattened against her burgundy hair in grief.

"Maxi, what's wrong?" I asked concernedly as she wiped her cheeks with the back of her paw. She sniffed and opened her mouth to say something when another fit of sobbing came on. She hugged me and cried into my shoulder, giving me the impression of someone who'd had their spirit destroyed almost beyond repair. It hurt me to see her like this and I wanted to do whatever was in my power to help her feel better. "Is there anything I can do to cheer you up?" She looked up at me again and I noticed her eyes had changed from their usual rose hue to pale white.

"_You are in grave danger, Hazel. Leave while you can."_ She rasped as she let go of me and grabbed my head in her paws. I felt a sharp electrical shock go through my brain and it felt as if something were rooting through my head. I fought against it fearfully, not knowing what was going to happen, but was quickly losing that fight as I slowly dropped to a knee under the onslaught of the probing feeling. Tears were welling in my eyes from the pain, but still Maxi persisted, her eyes staring almost lovingly at me as she looked through my memories. I tried to raise my paw to stop her, but my sight vanished and I was left in the dark, deprived of every one of my senses and utterly alone. Then the voices started.

"Why would you do this to your own niece, Michael? It doesn't seem ri-" Maxi argued before she was cut off by a harsh slap from a fox in a lab coat.

"I have my reasons, Maxi! Now do what your told or I'll have to do something to that pretty mother of yours. Wouldn't want an accident to happen now would we?" Michael threatened as he turned to a wall-sized pane of glass, his paws clasped behind his back while he concentrated on the figure in the room beyond. Maxi held a paw to her cheek where she had been hit and her eyes flashed brightly with hatred, but the emotion went away before she could act on the impulse. She had her mother's life to think about, though it tore her insides apart to trade the life of one of her best friends for that of her mother. She looked past Michael and stared sympathetically at the arctic vixen sitting with her knees drawn to her chin in the room adjacent theirs, dried tears, blood and sex stains dotting her otherwise pure white fur.

"What are you going to do with her?" She asked hesitantly, knowing that he had a knack for thinking up experiments that ended up horribly painful for whoever was on the receiving end. Michael turned his head towards her and she felt a cold sweat pass down her spine as he gave her a dark grin.

"You'll find out soon, my dear Maxi, as will Hazel. She is the main component in my plan, so be a good girl and go fetch her for me before 'Angel' dies." He said in a voice that was more like a growl. She nodded and walked out of the room quickly, trying to get the image of 'Angel's' tortured and bruised body out of her mind while her pained screams split the air.

* * *

The picture changed to a past memory. I was looking at it through Maxi's eyes and I recognized the house as Geno's when we were growing up. She was walking down the hallway on the second landing and she was looking for the bathroom cause this was her first time being over. I remember having to take a shower when I got there because I had been tagged by one of the seniors at the high school on the way to her house and was covered in blue paint from nearly head to toe. Maxi knocked on the door, though I couldn't hear because the radio was on and I was listening to an extremely loud song, so she thought someone had just left it on. She twisted the doorknob and opened the door to the sight of my naked body. We stared at each other for a second before she quickly closed the door, her heart pounding while she felt a weird sensation coming from between her legs. She passed it off as nothing and headed back downstairs, but having me live her memory, I felt a familiar emotion starting to bubble up in her body though I couldn't put my claw on it.

I remember asking her about it a little while later, but she had said she didn't want to talk about it and said she was sorry, so I didn't broach the subject anymore. Now that I was living the memory through her, it felt as if she were attracted to me. It must have hurt her in the later years during college to know that even though we were friends, we couldn't be lovers no matter how hard she tried to make that fantasy a reality.

* * *

The scenery shifted again, this time to Maxi's dorm room at the university. She was sitting on the bottom bunk with her head covered by her pillow and was crying heavily into it. The amount of despair in her made me quail before it, the memory causing me pain from feeling so much anguish.

"Maxi, are you alright?" I heard my voice ask from the doorway. She lifted the pillow from off her face and looked at me standing with a couple of drinks in my paws and shook her head before putting the pillow back down.

"No, I'm not. I'm the ugliest fur in the entire university. I can't even get a date for one of Geno's parties. I don't even know why I try. Guess no one likes me enough to go on a date with me." She sobbed. I felt the bed sag as I sat next to her and took the pillow from over her face to smile down at her.

"Then they don't know what they're missing, Maxi. You're just as beautiful as me or any of the others here at the school. And you **are** going to that party tonight." I heard myself insist as she put down the drinks and pulled Maxi off the bed. Even through a ton of protests, I had still managed to get her to the party and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Through the experience, we'd grown a lot closer as friends and we both knew we could go to each other with our problems without getting pushed away.

When Maxi finally pulled out of my head, I had a much better understanding of her than I ever had and vice versa. She let go of my head and I fell backwards onto the ground, my eyes glazed over from the memories I had just witnessed and in exhaustion from the stuff that she had seen going through my mind. It took me a second to remember who and where I was, but I couldn't seem to stop panting. My vision was the first to come back, giving me a good view of the bridge ceiling, though it was a very panicky couple of minutes before everything else came back. I sat up and looked around to see Maxi slumped over the side of her chair, breathing very shallowly while her fingers were twitching on the floor. I forced myself to get off of the floor and sat her upright in the chair so she wouldn't fall out of it. Her eyes snapped open at my touch and she groaned as she put a paw to her head.

"What happened… nggh my head feels like someone bashed it in with a sledgehammer." She moaned as she noticed me standing infront of her with a tired yet satisfied look on my face. "Hazel what're you… oh no. Tell me I didn't do what I think I did." She said with a fearful look in her eyes.

"If you mean show me our past through your eyes, then yes, that is what you did." I reassured her with a strained sort of smile, still trying to get over the mental shock of what I had just seen. Her scared expression turned to one of full on panic and she opened her mouth to apologize when I shook my head and put a paw up to silence her. "There isn't anything you need to apologize for, Maxi. I'm sorry you had to get mixed up in this business with my uncle, but since you are, I'm going to have to ask you to do me a favor." I said calmly, feeling a black hatred welling up inside me towards the man who had caused this much grief and pain to me, my friends, and anyone else that had been hurt by him. Maxi nodded and closed her mouth in anticipation for what I had to say, but I shook my head and nodded towards the door. "Not yet. I need everyone in here before I ask what I need to. I know you can force the others into agreeing with you, but I won't feel right if it ends up that way and someone gets hurt because of me."

Maxi shook her head and hit the intercom button with a smirk on her face. "Hey guys, get your asses up to the bridge now," She ordered into the speaker before turning to me. "Same old Hazel, putting others before herself without thinking through the consequences for her actions. Whatever this favor is, I already want to tell you that I'll follow through it a hundred percent no matter what it is." She said as Felix ambled in with an eager look on his face while Dante closely followed a towel around his neck and a smile on his muzzle as he winked at me.

"Okay, Maxi we're here, so what do you want?" Felix asked for Dante's benefit, already knowing what I had told Maxi.

"Hazel?" She prompted as I stood up. I took a deep breath and stared each of them in the eye, especially Felix, knowing that he would read my mind and find out the plan I was already thinking up.

"You all know of my uncle, Michael and I'm sure you hate him with a passion. I know I can't ask you to risk your lives for my cause, but-"

"Oh save it, Hazel," Felix interrupted with an annoyed look on his face. "You want us to help you kill Michael, so just come out and say it!"

"Fine! What Felix said is right. I want you guys to help me kill my uncle and make sure something like this can't happen again." I glowered at him. "When is the next time you talk to Michael?" I asked Maxi.

"Ummm… I think in a couple of hours, why?" She asked, a dark smile starting to form on her lips as she caught on to what I was thinking.

"Good, now for what I have in mind, it'll have to look as if I'd put up a fight and you had to restrain me, so we need some cuffs and you guys need to look as if you had gotten beaten up pretty badly. Felix'll tell you the rest when I think of it." I said with a look at Felix's smirking face. Maxi sighed and Dante snickered as he tossed the towel towards me. I caught it and crumpled it in my fists before looking out into space, knowing that I would have to kill one of my own, trying to bring myself to justify it. "This is going to end, Michael. One way or another, I will end this."

"Maxi, is everything well?" Michael asked with mock concern as her battered face came on the screen. Her breathing was labored and one of her eyes was swelling. She nodded and winced at a loud crash that came from the hallway behind her. Felix limped in holding a chain lead while Dante struggled to keep me contained in the straight jacket they'd put me in. I snarled at them both and kicked out at them, struggling to get free any way I could, but Dante's hold was too strong. They stopped me infront of the monitor and forced me to kneel down infront of it.

"Quit struggling, bitch. It's not like-ARGGH!!!" Felix screamed painfully as I bit down on his hand. He slapped me on the back of the head until I let go of him. I sneered up at him and spit out some of his blood onto the floor before giving him a bloody smile.

"Oh, you didn't like that? I'm sorry, though you did put your hand in reach, so you gave me the right." I mumbled as I stared up at Michael's excited face. "What're you looking at, fox? Never seen a vixen before?"

"I can't believe I get to see you again after all these years, Hazel. My, how you've grown since last we met. How've you been, my niece?" He asked. I looked at him quizzically and tilted my head to the side, trying to remember him clearly but coming up blank.

"I'm sorry, but I think I'd remember my own uncle. I haven't the slightest idea who you are." I said as I looked at Maxi, who glowered at him me fiercely from the command chair. I flashed her a grin and received a punch to the ground as a result. "Someone's a little touchy about the beating they got-UGGH!" I groaned as Dante kicked me in the stomach.

"Enough! Stop kicking my niece, Dante. I need her to be intact when she gets here. I'm glad to see that you aren't as incompetent as I thought you were, Maxi. Make sure she's contained until I can get to her and keep her from killing you. She's infected with something that might make it hard on you to keep her locked up. Best of luck Maxi." Michael ended the transmission with a grin as he lit a cigarette. When I was sure he wasn't going to come back, I straightened up and glared at Dante with electricity sparking in my eyes.

"You think you could've eased up on the kick, Dante? I think you cracked a rib." I growled. He smiled sheepishly and shrugged as he inched away from me.

"You think you're in pain?! You crushed my hand with your teeth, Hazel! I think I have the right to be in more pain than you are." Felix complained as he started resetting fingers into place with a grimace for each one. I scowled in his direction as I struggled against my constraints, trying to get out of the straight jacket without falling onto the floor. Maxi growled irritatedly and moved behind me to unclasp the buckles on the jacket, limping from the fight we'd had to get into to fool Michael.

"There, done." She muttered as I straightened up and slipped my arms out of the jacket's sleeves, letting the heavy thing fall to the floor with a thud. I stretched my arms over my head before getting a punch in the back from Felix, knocking me forward a couple of steps before I could get my balance. I spun around and glared at him before he stepped up infront of me, his eyes glaring death into mine. I stood my ground and glared back at him, though my thoughts were probably betraying me to him, cause he took a step closer and gripped my arm with his good hand. He stared into my eyes for what seemed like forever before grinning at me and giving me a quick peck on the cheek before walking off out of the room, leaving me with a strange fluttery feeling in my stomach. Maxi looked at me then at Felix and back again before realization shone on her face. I held up a paw for her to stop before she could say anything and looked out the window, my paw against my cheek where he kissed me while my eyes were clouded with mixed emotions; the betrayal I felt at the love I'd pledged for Jasper, embarrassment at the butterfly sensation in my stomach leftover from when Felix had kissed me, confusion as to what he had seen in my thoughts, and curiosity as to what he sees in me to try to go out of his way to like me.

"Felix is something else, isn't he?" Maxi asked, breaking my train of thought as she joined me at the window. I looked over at her and gave her a half-smile before touching the dog tags around my neck.

"I've met a lot of men in my life; jerks, romantics, racists, and a host of so many others. I've fallen for kind people who turned out to be rotten and nearly killed the man I thought I'd spend the rest of my life with. I even met the fur who pledged his undying love to me and still ended up losing him in a fit of rage. After all this, I think I'm just not cut out to be in a relationship. This arm," I lifted it up to the light so that it reflected slightly. "Has made me unbalanced. I can't function right with it and I even have nightmares of myself killing my friends and family in times when I'm not in control of it. I don't know what to do, Maxi." I whimpered sadly as I rested my head against the glass and let the tears flow unrestrained down my cheeks. She patted my shoulder and took a couple steps back when I took a swipe at her, barely missing her left eye by an inch.

"I was just trying to help, Hazel, no need to attack me." Maxi growled, though it sounded like a whisper in a long tunnel to me as I gripped my head in my paws and sank to the floor. Electricity arched off my body and mixed with the flames roiling off my limbs as I opened my maw to scream, but the sound was cut off as my body started convulsing while my heart hammered away against my ribcage. I flopped down onto my back and stared blankly up at Dante and Maxi while my mouth opened in a silent shriek of pain, my eyes rolling in my head while my breath became shallower and shallower until it felt as if I weren't breathing at all. My eyes focused long enough to see Maxi order Dante to get the medipack, but I couldn't hang on long enough to see what happened next. Unconsciousness won out over survival instincts and I blacked out thankfully.

I was standing in a field full of dead bodies, the reeking stench of rotting flesh and singed fur that was thick in the air made me want to gag. There was ash falling like snow and I couldn't see the reason for all this mindless destruction.

"Isn't this just beautiful, Hazel?" Someone asked me from nearby. I turned around to find the source of the voice and was met with my blood-splattered doppelganger; a maniacal smile splitting her face while her hair blew in the wind behind her. I growled and whirled around fully as I put my paws up in defense, but she just laughed and put her paws up in submission. "Oh quit being so uptight all the time, why don't ya? I just wanna talk vixen to vixen. No fighting, no pain just talking. If you ask me, that's reeeealy boring, but I'm curious as to why you keep fighting. Why not just let me take over and run your body? It would be a lot easier for both of us and I could get a taste of what it's like to be you for a while. But then again…" She trailed off as she paced over to a dead tiger and coated her claw in his blood before sucking on it like a piece of candy. "I could just force you to the depths of your own psyche and take over that way. Personally, I hope you fight, cause it wouldn't be quite as exciting or enjoyable if you went quietly. So, what do you choose?"

I couldn't believe what she was asking. My lips curled from over my teeth into a snarl before I shook my head and made my arm spark dangerously. She clapped eagerly for the fight that was about to happen and stood up from the tiger's dead body as the same black aura I'd had appeared around her; almost obscuring her completely from view while her giggles filled the clearing eerily, making my skin crawl and sweat dew on the back of my neck. I balled my paw into a fist and watched her disappear in a black flash, leaving me temporarily blinded and deafened by her horrible giggle in my ears. I ducked to the side and lashed out with my heel, connecting with her side while she sliced into my leg with her claws. I jumped back on my good leg and blinked the stars out of my eyes so I could see clearly again, only to find that she was gone again.

"You've gotten better since we last fought, Hazey-wazy, but I'll still win out in the end." She called out condescendingly ahead of me. I growled angrily and charged after her voice, pulling Bella's staff from her lifeless corpse as I went, using to the hatred I had for this 'thing' inside of me to fuel my drive to fight her. When I found her, she was holding a broadsword that reminded me of Alexander's and had a confident smirk on her face as she lunged at me with the sword point out, poised for a quick thrust into my heart. I brought the staff around in time and parried her thrust before twisting the handle and knocking her sword out of the way so I could punch her in the face, but she read my movements and brought her palm into my chin; knocking me back a couple of steps before attacking me ferociously. I blocked most of her slashes and thrusts, but a few of them found their way past my defense and bit vengefully into my limbs. I winced as I brought the staff infront of me, the motion bringing waves of pain to the hurt parts of my body, and let the blade ignite with the black fire I had used before on Nanuet. I swung the staff quickly in her direction and started raining blows down her steadily, slicing into her sides and legs while desperately trying to find an end to this fight. We locked blades and struggled against each other with blood matting our fur and sweat dewing on our foreheads, exhaustion making us grip our weapons loosely. She gave a heavy push backwards and I hadn't seen the corpse behind me, so as I was falling backwards, I saw a flash of silver and felt a searing pain in my stomach as she stabbed me through and imbedded the sword into the ground underneath me. I coughed up blood onto my chest as I gripped the sword handle feebly, the strength already leaving my limbs as she laughed triumphantly. She grasped the handle through my paw and wrenched the sword from my body, letting me fall to the ground with a soft thud before stabbing me again through the center of my chest up to the hilt, pinning me there with her foot on the pommel as she looked down at me.

"Looks like… I win… Hazel. I'll take good care of your body in your stead." She laughed happily before stooping low to pull the sword out of me again. As her paw gripped the handle, my paw shot up and gripped her wrist before sending electricity rebounding all throughout her body, focusing on the brain and heart so that I would know she was dead. Her eyes went wide as she saw the bloody smile I gave her and she screamed as her heart stopped from the sheer amount of energy flowing through her. When her fur started smoking, I let go of her and watched as she fell backwards onto the ground, her maw open wide in an eternal scream while her eyes were still wide in surprise.

"Looks… like… I win… you bitch…" I whispered faintly as I let my paw ball into a fist in the air, a lone spark fluttering off into the air weakly before it fell to the ground next to me. I closed my eyes and let the strength ebb from me as I faded away, my heart beating out its last few before giving out.

"Is she gonna be alright…" Felix's voice asked from a far, fading in and out as if it were being fed through a fan.

"Only time will tell for sure… there was massive internal bleeding and bone fractures from the… growth spurt… but he's done all he can do for her… all she needs is rest…" Maxi reassured Felix, her voice sounding a little bit sharper, yet still far off. I felt someone squeeze my paw in their gentle hand and I yearned to tell them I was all right, to comfort them, but my body felt as if it were made of jelly. I couldn't even open my eyelids they felt so heavy.

"I'm staying nonetheless… please, don't deny me that right." Felix pleaded as he clasped my paw in his warm hands, making me wonder why he cared so much about me. I heard Maxi sigh from somewhere to my right and mutter something inaudible before walking out of the room, the door hissing open and closed, leaving me with Felix in my vulnerable state.

For what seemed like an eternity, the only sounds I could hear were the steady beeps of an EKG monitor as it pulsed rhythmically in time with my heart, my shallow breathing and Felix's slow, even ones, meaning that he was probably asleep, though his grip on my paw didn't let up. This struck me as odd because we hadn't known each other long enough to even be called friends, let alone girlfriend and boyfriend. But the way he had pleaded to stay with me till I woke coupled with the way he was clutching my paw made me wonder; what did he see in my mind when he read my thoughts? Had he seen some subconscious thought that would lead him to think that I was in love with him or was he trying to convince me that he was the one for me? I couldn't voice my opinions aloud due to the exhaustion I was feeling and the mental strain my fight with the infection, I couldn't even speak if I wanted to.

"Hazel… is that you?" Felix murmured in his sleep, stirring slightly while he tightened his grip on my paw. "I… want you to know… I like you… a lot." He murmured before returning to his light snoring. I was touched that he admitted this to me, though I didn't know what to say to that. The choice set before me made my insides boil with uncertainty; do I follow my heart and stay true to my pledge to Jasper or do I take my chances with Felix, who I just met a couple of days ago yet felt closer to thanks to the intimate connection he set up between us before Michael had called. Remembering that the link was there made me feel even weaker because I couldn't even hold a mental conversation with a friend when I was supposed to be capable of salvaging any reputation of my race had left. I'm sorry Felix, but I couldn't even stop myself from letting my infection take the better of me. I don't deserve you to feel anything for me and I shouldn't even be alive today. I sobbed inwardly as I curled into a ball inside my head. As I sobbed desperately in my head, strength started burning through my limbs, chasing out the morphine that had probably gone into my body when they had to reset my bones and burning any impurities out through my pores. My eyes opened wide in surprise and a cloud of steam wafted out of my mouth to mix with a dark cloud hanging over my body. I felt my heart speed up almost tenfold and I sat up quickly, waking Felix up with my sudden motion and making him fall out of his chair onto the floor.

"What the hell just happened?!" He exclaimed before looking at me from the floor, catching me off-guard with his shocked expression. "Hazel… you look…" He trailed off as he took in my body with wide eyes. I looked down at myself, knowing I was still fully clothed, but I was still shocked at what I found. My clothes were a little snugger than they had been before I had gone under and my paws were slightly bigger, as were my breasts and my tail looked thicker with a darker coat with the silver tip a little brighter than it had been before. I looked up and saw Felix scrambling to get up while he held a small mirror in his hand. "Ummm… I think there is something you should see, Hazel." I hesitantly took the mirror from him and felt my paws shaking slightly as I looked at myself in it with a gasp. My muzzle was elongated slightly and my eyes were now colored silver with the whites of my eyes now as black as my fur. I raised my paw to my cheek and almost threw down the mirror when I noticed my right paw wasn't metallic anymore but back to normal, flesh and bone covered with fur again. I dropped the mirror onto the bed with a muffled thud and felt myself hyperventilate in shocked joy, my heart almost bursting with excitement as I felt tears drip down my cheeks. I turned to Felix and gave him a wide grin before I lunged at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing my muzzle against his lips, catching him by surprise and forcing us both onto the ground. We hit the ground with a hard thump that almost knocked me off of him, but I held fast to his face and gently bit his lower lip while my tail wrapped around his inner thigh. He soon started reacting to kiss with a passionate fire of his own and placed his hand at the back of my neck while he moved his other hand down to my waist, softly following the curve of my butt cheek with his fingertips. The sensation of his fingertips sent an electric shiver up my spine and I pressed my lips closer to his, my tongue straying into his mouth while my paw lightly gripped some of his hair, clutching him to me so I could convey the choice I'd made. When it seemed that both of us were about to pass out from lack of air, I pulled my lips from his and rubbed my nose against his cheek, giggling slightly as I felt him shiver slightly when it touched his warm cheek.

"Does this mean we're a couple now?" He asked with a gasp as my tail brushed over his growing erection. I pulled him back into a deep, passion filled kiss before feeling my slit start to burn slightly as well as wetten, desire and need building up inside me quickly to an almost frightening degree. I'm going through heat... I thought with an inward groan as I traced patterns on his cheek with my claw with my closed so I couldn't look into his forest green eyes, so I wouldn't get lost in their depths and clarity as well as to not give my new body anymore reason to love him. He started playing with my tongue with his and slipped his hand into the back of my pants before giving me a slight pinch before moving down to my needy lower lips. He ran his fingers down the length of my slit and pinched my swollen clit, sending pleasure shooting through my body while his other hand slipped up the back of my shirt to run his finger down the crease of my spine. I moaned into the kiss and pulled my lips from his as I felt my cunt wetten even more, some of my juices coating his fingers while I unconsciously bucked my hips into his fingers, wanting to be filled with him and taste his cum on my tongue.

"More… please, Felix… MORE!" I begged as I ground my hips into his fingers, feeling them slide into my needy pussy and rub against my aching inner flesh. Felix smiled lustfully at my pleasure clouded eyes and pulled his fingers out of my cunt, much to my discontentment and slid his hands out from underneath my clothes before pulling my paws from his cheeks. He motioned with his eyes towards the bed and smiled as the answer dawned in my sterling eyes. I got up off of him and let him up before pushing him onto the bed with his head resting against the pillows I was sleeping on.

"Someone's spirited today." He said with a grin as he watched me struggling with his pants, though I finally unbuttoned them after what seemed like an eternity to my pleasure deprived brain. I peeled both his jeans and his boxers back from over his crotch and let them rest against his ankles so that I could get at his eight-inch dick. I crawled up to him so that my mouth was hovering above his tip and let my paw softly pump him, enticing pleased groans from him as my tongue slipped from my mouth and teased his tip, lapping up a pearl of pre as it bubbled out the opening. I started pumping his shaft a little harder and wrapped my lips around his tip before sucking him for his hot pre, the taste sweet in my new mouth yet oddly familiar to my brain. Felix's groaning became more and more frequent as I started deepthroating him heavily, my nose touching his well-toned stomach each time while I inhaled his heavenly musky scent. I felt his shaft start to pulse gently in the warm confines of my mouth and redoubled my efforts to make him cum, feeling the need to have his seed in my mouth almost overwhelming my brain with its strength. I didn't have to wait long for the feeling to be sated, though. Felix gripped the sides of my head and grunted softly as he pushed my head down all the way onto his pole, the tip brushing up against the back of my throat as he came violently, his semen exploding from his cock and billowing my cheeks as it flowed down into my stomach but also down my windpipe into my lungs. I coughed and gagged on the hot liquid, but there didn't seem to be any relief in sight from the slight discomfort of not being able to breathe right. It felt as if I were drowning in a sea of thick, stagnant water. I heard Felix gasp in shock and felt his hands leave my head to let me up, though the first thing I did when I was up was vomit some of the spooge he'd shot into my lungs onto the floor, glad that I hadn't eaten anything. "Oh God, Hazel I'm sorry. I-" I cut him off with a lust filled glare as I wiped off my mouth on the back of my arm and let my eyes stray down to his still hard member, my paw already rubbing his sack, though the texture of the skin felt different than it had before. I looked back up and gasped in astonishment as I saw Felix's face had changed to that of a dragon's; the scales covering his face a shimmering onyx while his eyes had changed to a honeyed golden color, as if they were meant to be the opposite of mine.

"Anything else you didn't think to tell me, Felix?" I asked gently as I leaned forward and kissed his neck gently before giving it a slight nibble, making him sigh pleasurably while I tried to pull his shirt over his head.

"I'm Rapturian, like you, but I don't think that matters much, now does it?" He asked, his voice now sounding like a rich bass that had been sprinkled with a hint of an angle's voice. I shook my head and pulled away from his neck so I could get his shirt off, only to feel his strong yet gentle paws move mine down to my side so he could do it himself, giving me a magnificent view of his muscled chest covered with silver gray scales that supplemented his black scaled body and beautiful eyes perfectly. I soon began feeling self-conscious sitting next to this beautiful dragon, my cheeks burning slightly at the thought but as I looked Felix's body over, I couldn't help but feel a little plain compared to him. He tilted my chin up with his finger and surprised me by pressing his muzzle to mine, his slightly forked tongue slipping easily into my surprise slackened mouth while his free paw held onto my arm to keep me from falling back as he unfurled his wings from behind him, the sight making my heart skip a few beats as he wrapped them both around me, enveloping us in a semi-twilight like atmosphere while he gently tugged at the bottom of my shirt to pull it over my head. I complied readily as I pulled my arms into my sleeves, reluctantly pulling away from his lovely tasting lips to let him pull the shirt over my head and toss it out of our little bubble of the world before bringing our lips back together, my tongue eager to play with his again. I brought my fingers up to gently feel the new contours of his face; the three inch horns that grew out of the crown of his head, the velvety soft hair that ended at about the base of his neck, the two small horns on either side of his jaw. I continued my questing along his back, feeling the strong muscle along his spine where his wings joined with his spinal column, and down to where his tail joined just above his tailhole. He pushed a little harder into the kiss when I touched the base of his tail and I felt the heat between my legs intensify again as his dick touch my stomach when he drew me closer to his chest. I was about to start pumping his member again, but he beat me to it and unbuttoned my pants before slipping his hand into them to rub my slit, getting a pleasured growl from my throat. He disentangled our tongues from one another and leaned forward to give my neck nip while he easily slid his fingers past my lower lips, rubbing his claws against my sensitive inner walls and playing with my clit with his thumb.

"Mmm… Felix thank you." I moaned as I leaned into his teasing, feeling his muzzle move from my neck to my breast as his tongue flicked sensually over the nipple, making me gasp lightly as he started pumping his fingers into my quickly wettening cunt. I brought my paw to his waiting cock and pumped a couple of times before feeling him let go of my arm and gently lower me onto the waiting bed before letting his wings furl back behind his back, the soft light of the medical wing casting a gentle glow to his scales after the semi-twilight. He gently slid my jeans from around my waist and pulled them off of my feet before throwing them in the pile with his stuff next to the bed. The cold air from the climate control blew across my nipples and I gasped quietly as I felt his hot breath break against my outer most folds, his nostrils flaring slightly as he inhaled the scent my womanhood was giving off.

"You smell heavenly, my love." He whispered, his eyes conveying the grin his lips couldn't form at the moment as he plunged his muzzle into my waiting cunt, his tongue easily reaching the more receptive areas of my depths without him having to plunge any farther than a quarter of his muzzle. The way his tongue was lashing around inside of me had me panting before long, but I wanted more than that. He seemed to read my thoughts and thrust his muzzle deeper into my aching pussy, his tongue lapping at my g-spot and quickly bringing my climax to boiling point. He realized this and rolled my clit between his fingers, shooting me over the edge as I gave muffled scream into my fist while my pussy constricted around his tongue. I thrust my hips into his muzzle and wrapped my legs around his neck, forcing him deeper into my cunt so he could lick every inch of me. When he started tapping my thigh to be let up, I unwound my legs from around him and he pulled out of my tunnel with cum dripping from his muzzle, his eyes glazed over in pleasure as he sucked in a couple of deep breathes of air before looking down at me. I gave him an innocent giggle and sat up to wrap my arms around his neck as he got up off of the bed. He gripped my butt gently to keep me from falling and easily thrust his waiting cock into my still sensitive cunt, hilting inside me for a few minutes, both of us reveling in the feel of our closeness and the way my inner walls squeezed against his member. He swung me around so that my back was to the wall and let me rest against it as he started gently thrusting into me, his hips barely leaving mine while our lips touched each other again. I loved the feel of his cock inside me and ground my hips into his whenever they touched, getting him to moan into our kiss as he picked up his pace, his dick rubbing against my g-spot easily while our tongues played with one another. I could taste my sweet juices still on his tongue and felt that, in this closeness, I could truly love Felix. Not the Felix he should me before, the human whose spiky hair and gentle smiles would only serve as a good friend in the future, but this Felix: the one whose eyes proved as a direct opposite to mine and looked into my soul with a depth that couldn't be described with mere words. I felt something press against my tailhole and gasped as the tip of his tail drilled its way into me, stretching the small hole slightly as the appendage continued to delve into me. His thrusts became stronger as I clenched my anal muscles around his tail, a devious grin on my muzzle as I pulled out of our kiss.

"Ngghh… God, Felix… So, big…" I groaned in between pants, to which Felix just moaned and pumped his shaft into me harder, making me bounce slightly underneath his onslaught. I wanted to outlast him and make him cum first, but his tail started thrusting into my tailhole and expanding my backdoor with its gradual increase in size the more it went in, making me dangerously close to bursting, but I wasn't going out without a fight. I gripped his shoulders hard enough to draw blood and started thrusting harder than he was back into his cock, getting surprised grunts from him as he whipped his tail out from my backdoor, the sensation beyond words as I shoved my lips against his and screamed into his mouth, the vibrations traveling down his throat as I came. He bucked his hips madly into mine for a few more seconds before shooting his seed into my waiting womb, the hot, creamy stuff coating everything in its wake. Even after we had both cum so heavily, we were still thrusting at each other as if our lives depended on it and in a way, it did. I didn't want him to stop until neither of us could move and I'm sure he felt the same way.

I had never had more passionate or intense sex than I did with Felix; the way our bodies seemed to mold to each other in every way there was to heighten our pleasure made me appreciate him for doing it. There was no sense of time when I was with him and the many hours that we spent entangled together seemed to meld into one, beautiful blooming of emotion. Simple words cannot describe what I felt and I didn't want to try to form the words to put the experience into perspective. It wasn't until we were lying on the bed together, sweat making our bodies glisten in the soft light and the smell of what we did still hanging in the air, that I realized that I **did** love him. It would never be the same kind of love that I had for Axel or Jasper, but a kind of love that I knew wasn't deserving of words either. I turned my head to face his and gave him a tired smile as I buried my head in the space between his neck and shoulder, my arms wrapped snuggly around his shoulders while my tail and his were wrapped around one another at the tips. I felt his paw rubbing my back and murred quietly as the exhaustion started taking its hold on me, catching me off guard now that the fun was over.

"I love you, Hazel." Felix murmured into my ear before giving me a gentle nip. I returned the affection with kiss on his neck and playfully clenched my inner walls around his cock, making him groan softly.

"I know you do, Felix, or else you wouldn't have wanted to play with me like you did." I whispered back as I lifted my head to look him in the eyes. "But if you want me to love you back, this how you'll have to stay. Not as the human Felix, but the real you as you are now. It wouldn't feel right to me and I like you this, although to be fair, I'd love you anyway you were." I gave the tip of his snout a peck and lay my head back down onto his chest, my eyes hovering on the edge of sleep while looking at the reflection of us in a mirror I'd failed to notice before. I cuddled closer to him; comforted in the way we looked, and was cut off from the view as his wings covered over us again, giving me even more reason to fall asleep. I closed my eyes and felt his lips against my forehead as sleep won out finally, sending me off into a peaceful slumber where me and Felix were still together as I hoped we'd be till the end of time.

**I'm sorry to tell you that this is the second to last chapter of Infected. I think I did a good job with Felix this time around and have finally found someone that Hazel will stick with. Next chapter… it shall all end… **

"**I turn my head to the east, I don't see nobody by my side… I turn my head to the west, still nobody beside, so I turn my head to the north, swallow that pill that they call pride; that old me's dead and gone, look at me and everything'll be alright…"** -Dead and Gone, T.I.

**That song inspired Hazel's resurrection and new life. Goes to show that music is a good inspiration when it wants to be.**


	13. Part 13: Ending

I slept peacefully for the first time in so many weeks. I was actually crying when I woke up, the joy of having rid myself of the 'thing' that had been haunting my nightmares for so long had me in a sort of daze. It made me skeptical about what was real and what was a dream. When I saw Felix sleeping underneath me, his perfect face almost made me pinch him to make sure he was real. That was before all the memories of the previous night had come rushing back to me.

"Huh… surprised that you're awake this early after all the noise you two made last night." Maxi said from the doorway, making me turn sluggishly in her direction before making the connection. I blushed heavily through my dark fur and smiled sheepishly before noting that she was wearing a traditional hoodie and some sweat pants while the handle of a katana poked over her right shoulder. I guessed that she was getting ready for some training and was about to get off of Felix to join her when he moaned in his sleep and wrapped his arms tighter around my waist, thrusting his hips upward as if he were reliving what had happened yesterday. I heard Maxi laugh and blushed deeper as I put a paw to his temple, letting a small current jolt him awake. His eyes popped open and he looked around in surprise before he noticed me staring down at him with my muzzle an inch from his snout.

"Oh… good morning, Hazel. Last night was… someone's in the room with us, huh?" He asked as he caught the look in my eyes. He looked to his left and saw Maxi standing in the doorway with her arms crossed, a bemused look on her face while her tail swayed slowly behind her. His eyes bulged slightly and he unwound his arms from around my waist before looking around for his clothes. I got up and stretched my arms over my head till they my shoulders popped, not caring if Maxi were still in here or not, though I did know the effect it would have on Felix as I bent down to pick up my shirt, giving him a flattering view of my flower and gem.

"I don't think that's hardly fair for him, Hazel." Maxi called over as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling when I smirked at her. I picked up the rest of my clothes and put them on while Felix struggled to get his shirt on with his wings. I sighed and used my claws to silt holes into the back where his wings could come out easily before standing infront of Maxi with my paws at my sides.

"So, how long do I have till you hand me over to Michael?" I asked seriously, wanting to bring my fighting skills up to what they used to be. Maxi shook her head and looked over at Felix, who had come to stand next to me and had an arm around my waist.

"In a little under forty-eight hours, so it would stand to reason that we should start your training right away. No offense, but after looking over your fight with Dante, you suck. Even I could beat you now." She said with a sheepish grin as I gave her a mock glare and lifted my paws infront of me in an attempt at throttling her, but Felix held me back with a single arm. I gave her a giggle and smiled.

"Okay fine, I'll go through this training, but only if it'll give me a chance to stand up against Michael."

* * *

Over the next day and a half, I went through a rigorous training regiment with Dante and Maxi, re-learning everything about CQC I'd ever learned and learned about different types of weapons so that I could be ready for anything Michael would throw at me. I was barely given anytime to see Felix in between the martial arts classes and weapons training, which struck me as odd. It was as if they didn't want me to see him before they sent me into the lion's den. It was making me angry that I couldn't see him, but I could understand why it would be necessary if… I didn't come back. To prove that I would be able to come back to him, I trained harder and pushed myself to my limits for every exercise I was in, nearly killing myself through the effort, but I wasn't going to let myself die if it was going to hurt the people that I loved. Eventually, Maxi stopped my training because she said the way I was pushing myself was going to kill me before I could even meet Michael. I strongly protested the stop she put on my training, but the minute I was put back into the same room that Felix was in, the fight left me and desire took its place. I had taken him by surprise and we ended up on the floor again, this time with him on top smiling down at me. The next few hours were some of the best in my life, messing around with the one who'd pulled me out of a spiral of off and on depression and brought the old me back to the surface. But underneath the happiness and joy lay a layer of doubt and fear at what I was going to be facing in just a few short hours.

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this, Hazel?" Felix asked after our last romp session in his bedroom. I heaved a heavy sigh and nodded as he nuzzled his snout against my cheek sadly. It was taking all my self-control and restraint just to stop myself from hugging him and drawing him close to me, whispering to him that it was going to be all right. Truth was that I had a pretty good chance of being killed today and I didn't want to mar his last memory of me with false hope. He stroked my breasts lightly, as if he were touching a fragile flower, and traced a clawtip around my erect nipple; making me shudder slightly, though for the wrong reasons. The more he touched me, the more I had to repress the urge to stay here with him, to forget about Michael and stay with Felix in the safety of the ship. I slid a finger down his chest, tracing the contours of his muscles and letting my muzzle draw close to his neck to give him a soft nip.

"I know this isn't something either of us want, Felix, but I can't just let my uncle get away with what he's doing to the poor furs he has at his compound. Look at what he did to Dante, to me. I can't have him do that to anyone else; my conscience would plague me endlessly until I did something about it." I whispered sadly as I kissed the hollow on his throat, feeling his jugular move as he swallowed hard. He hugged me closer to him and I rested my head against his shoulder, the tears that he was shedding for me dripping off his cheek and into my hair. It took me a second to realize that I was crying too, my tears directed inward as well as outward. I didn't want to let him know that I thought I wasn't going to make it through this to see him again, so my tears were a good way to cover up the certainty that I was going to die. We stayed like that for a good thirty minutes longer before he tilted my chin up and wiped away the tears still on my cheeks with a finger before giving me gentle yet passionate kiss on the lips, our lips sealed in a sort of goodbye that was unfinished. I caressed his cheek with the palm of my paw and tried to drag out the kiss for as long as I could before I heard a knock at his door. We broke away from each other, longing for more time together as we got dressed in silence. When we were both ready, we shared a brief kiss before we walked paw in paw together to the rear of the ship, where Maxi and Dante were waiting in their flight attire.

"Felix isn't coming with us, is he?" I asked in a tiny, nervous voice as I looked at the straight jacket that Dante was holding in his paws. Maxi shook her head and held up a paw as if to signal someone when a crushing blow hit the back of my neck, pitching me forward onto the floor as my vision blacked out. I knew Felix had done it and I didn't feel betrayed in the least because we had discussed the plan thoroughly before hand.

"Did she prove to be too much trouble for you?" A voice that was poorly masking the obvious excitement that the speaker felt asked while an appraising paw stroked my cheek. I tried to lift my head to see who was talking, but the horrible headache Felix had given me was taking its toll and even the slightest movements were hurting me. The paw on my cheek ran casually through my hair and touched my shoulder in an almost fatherly way before the smell of cigarette smoke entered my nostrils, making my senses alert while my body was still sluggish to react.

"She wasn't to much trouble the closer we got here, though she did put up a wicked fight when we pulled her out of the containment room." Maxi whispered in a strained voice as her paw touched my head. I involuntarily stiffened against her touch and groaned painfully as my head lolled to the side, making the headache even worse.

"Seems she's awake. Give me the lead, Maxi. Your services are no longer required." Michael spoke right next to my ear, as if he had wanted me to hear what he was saying. At the mere mention of the word lead, I wanted to take off running and not look back, but I had to stay in order to do what I came here to do. I opened my eyes and was blinded for a second by the arc lamps lighting the enormous room we were standing in. Infront of me stood Michael, his orange fur strikingly contrasting with the white lab coat and blue jeans he was wearing. His eyes were a strange combination of hazel and green while a scar ran vertically across his left eye, making me shiver as he caught me staring at him. A dark smirk graced his lips and he took the cigarette out of his mouth to blow a cloud of smoke into the air above his head before crushing the spent cig underfoot. "Welcome to your final resting place, my dear. Your mother would've been proud of your sacrifice had she not died so tragically." He said with a sharp tug of the lead, making me yelp painfully as I was dragged forward onto my knees infront of him. I looked up to him with a withering glare in my eyes, but he just laughed and pulled me to my feet with a single paw, staring into my eyes with his as a disapproving sneer claimed his smug features.

"Oh, what's wrong, Michael? Expecting someone else?" I mocked as I struggled against the bonds of the straight jacket. A look of pure hatred flashed in his eyes, but it was gone within the space of a second and a genuine smile took the place of the sneer. The smile caught me off guard and my indifferent façade faltered slightly when he walked around behind me and started unbuckling the restraints on my back.

"It wasn't that at all, Hazel, it's just… I don't know. I guess I got flustered when I saw you looking different than you did when you talked to me before. It almost made me believe that Maxi had tried to pull one over on me. But with that little outburst, I know it's you. Sasha will be so happy that you made it to her awakening." He muttered as the last of the buckles came undone, letting the jacket fall heavily onto the ground. I stretched my arms up until my shoulders popped, my right arm covered with a cloth bracer covering the entirety of the arm up until the fingerless glove covered paw to keep him in the dark about my lost infection. I turned to see him already walking off towards a set of double doors and I quickly jogged after him, not liking to be in the open like that so deep in an unknown building.

"So… what do you do in here by yourself, Michael?" I asked, honestly curious about the 'experiments' I had heard about in Maxi's memories. The double doors had opened into a dark hallway and it was near pitchblack when the doors closed behind us. I heard a whirr from all around us and felt a tingle run up my entire body as something scanned the both of us. After a couple of minutes the lights glared harshly down onto us and standing there with her hands cupped infront of her was an arctic vixen with silver blonde hair dressed in a black jacket and a pair of jean shorts.

"Welcome, Mrs. Eros and welcome to Master's compound. We have been waiting to meet you for some time." The vixen said with a bow of her head, her voice sounding dead, as if she had completely given up on life. Michael walked towards the vixen and I saw her flinch as he passed, her eyes betraying her horrible fear towards him before the indifferent look was back onto her face.

"Hazel, I'd like you to meet Amber Setzuka. She's going to be your escort around the complex until I need you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some things to take care of for tonight." He said without turning to talk to either of us. I watched him walk away until he turned a corner and let out a heavy sigh of relief as I relaxed a little, letting my shoulders slump slightly and my leg muscles relax.

"Would you like me to show you to your room?" Amber asked, not having moved from her spot since he had left. I was deeply disturbed by the way she was acting and nodded as I walked over to her. Now that I was closer, I could see that she was trembling with fear or anticipation. I gently put my paw on her shoulder and was about to ask what had her so frightened, but she jerked away from me and started walking at a brisk pace down a connecting hallway, only looking back to see if I was still with her or not. I followed her anxiously, wondering what kind of stuff was going on here to turn her into such a scared girl, and nearly didn't see her when she stopped abruptly in the middle of the hall. Before I could do anything, she had broken down into tears against my chest and was hugging me around the waist.

"Umm… I don't know what to say…" I whispered shyly, my arms hovering over her shoulders as I decided to hug her back or not. I decided to hug her and smoothed down her hair while I whispered consoling things to her, not knowing what I was trying to console her of. Amber looked up at me; her eyes rimmed with unshed tears while her shoulders were still trembling. I looked around for anything that seemed suspicious before helping her straighten up. "Tell me all about it once we get to my room, alright? I have a feeling someone's eavesdropping." I whispered as I gently turned her around to the way she was facing. She wiped her eyes on her paw and started walking forward, taking furtive looks back at me every few steps to see if I was still following her before stopping at a door embedded seamlessly into the steel wall. At first, I had to squint to find the door, but as soon as I got near it, the door slid open silently to reveal a sparsely furnished bedroom with a bed, a desk set against the far left corner and a connecting door that probably led to a bathroom. I walked quietly inside and waited for Amber to join me before sitting on the bed with her, my arms automatically around her shoulders to draw her close to me in a comforting embrace.

"Is it okay if I talk now?" She asked in a timid voice, her copper colored eyes staring sadly into mine.

"I'm pretty sure you can, Amber. How come you broke down like that in the hallway? What did he do to you that made you this way?" I asked in a hushed whisper, still holding her close to me. She sucked in a strangled breath and let it out as a choked sob before looking at me with her oddly colored eyes.

"He said it was for science, for the greater good. I don't know why I listened to him… There were so many experiments and so much pain. He hurt us if we didn't give him the results he wanted. Some didn't make it through the first week and those of us who did were stuck in cells until he wanted us for his experiments. He had put me into a cell with a husky named James at first, giving me someone to talk to through the hellish experience. We talked about our lives before this and we had grown pretty close in those weeks together, becoming friends through circumstance, but all that changed when he was taken while I was sleeping." She looked away at the ground and I felt her shoulders shudder under the strain of keeping her emotions bottled up. "I'd woken up alone and feared the worst for him, but he came back only a couple of minutes after I'd gotten up; his white and gray fur all covered in patches of blood while he walked with a limp. I remember asking him if he were all right, but he didn't even seem to acknowledge my existence. He just stared blankly at me and said that everything was fine. I've never been more afraid of a fur in my life, but the look on his face; that blank stare and the dull colored eyes made me have nightmares every night since. I can't even stand to look at him without crying." She sobbed as she leaned against my shoulder and hugged me tightly around the waist, soaking the sleeve of my shirt with her tears.

"It's going to be okay, Amber," I whispered comfortingly as I hugged her closer to me. "Everything is going to be alright. Do you mind telling me a little bit about yourself?" I asked quietly, trying to keep her occupied and take her mind off of James. She sniffled a little as she tried to talk coherently, muddling up a couple words with a few sobs but I could understand her for the most part.

"I'm… eighteen this week… and was born on Katina. I was an okay student in school, though I could've done better… My parents didn't want anything to do with me… when I was born, so I had abuse issues growing up… My little brother was born five years after me and I protected him from our awful parents, though looking at the mess I'm in now, I should've let them beat me…" She said with a humorless laugh as she dried her eyes. "I ran away with him when I was sixteen, determined to get away from our terrible life. We stayed on the run for a couple of months before they caught up with us. They took Nathan away from me and left me alone in the broken down hovel of a building we were using as a home at the time. I thought I was going to die from the pain I felt when I watched them drive away with the only true family I had left. I wandered the streets aimlessly for the next few days after that, trying to sort out what I was going to do with myself when he came into my life. It was somewhat clichéd, but he saved me from a couple of thugs trying to rape me in a back alley. At first, I thought it was just another thug trying to keep me for himself, but when I saw that he was a badger with a weird, crimson striped muzzle, my doubt went away. He told me his name was Jasper and offered to take me in off the streets. I couldn't think of anything better, cause I was sleeping in a park at the time, so I took him up on his offer and he let me stay with him in his apartment. He got me a job working at a music store with him and we started getting pretty close." I stiffened slightly when she said that but I quickly smothered the feeling, letting her continue.

"Did he ever tell you an excerpt from the play Loveless?" I asked quietly, holding out that it he wouldn't betray that thing we had together. A distant look formed in her eyes before she nodded.

"Yeah, he did. 'My love, my light, I am blind without you. You make me whole when I am broken and you bring warmth to my cold existence. We dance together in a corona of love and happiness where time means little. We complete one another and not even death will tear us apart. My blade is sheathed in honour of our peace and our hearts beat in synchrony. My love, my light, I hold you close to my heart…' Hazel are… are you crying?" Amber asked, looking up at me with concern in her eyes as I cried silent tears onto the floor. He shared one of the most intimate things we had in common with her. I felt betrayed and hurt, feeling as if all of the time I'd spent obsessing over how my feelings would play out if I ever met him again was for nothing.

"Did Jasper tell you he loved you, Amber?" I asked quietly, my voice barely above a whisper as I stared straight ahead, my body tensing in anticipation for the bomb to be dropped on it. She stayed quiet for a few minutes, as if trying to work out why I had such a reaction to this news.

"He did." She said in a quiet breath. With those two words, my soul seemed to shatter into a million irreparable pieces, leaving the raw core that was still Felix's to claim and build a new shelter for it. I knew Felix was waiting for me when I was done with what I had to do here, but the damage was already done and would fester in me until I met him again. To me, that seemed to be an eternity away. "Did you know Jasper, Hazel?" Amber asked, fearing that she had said something to hurt me. I looked down at her with a destroyed look in my eyes while a hurt smile appeared on my face. I told her about everything me and Jasper had been through together, even the numerous fights we'd gotten into during our friendship. I felt even with my friend's new love sitting next to me cradled in my arms, I found that I couldn't stop loving him. This love was going to stay with me until I died and it wasn't going to let me forget about him any time soon. By the time I reached the part about the last night we'd spent together in the tower, it felt as if part of my soul had been taped back together. It helped me move on knowing that if I could, I would save Amber and make sure that she and Jasper were reunited.

"That's why I reacted so sadly when you told me the excerpt he had said had been his favorite. I agreed with him because it was the final declaration of love between Genesis and his other half, Ashe. It's a beautiful play and when we get out of here, I want you to ask him if he could take you to go see it for me. Could you do that for me, Amber?" I asked, feeling as if Ashe were living through me and I was walking towards the final act; her death at the hands of the one she loved from the start. She nodded and I smiled through my tears as I wiped them away with the back of my paw. There was a soft knock at the door that made us both look up and I saw a husky standing in the doorway with his soulless gray eyes boring their way into mine. I felt Amber stiffen next to me, but I kept a reassuring arm around in case she started crying again.

"Mrs. Eros, Michael is ready to see you now. He asked me to come escort you to the operating room." He stated in a monotone, his face not showing any emotion as he waited for me to follow. I heard Amber gasp, but this was just what I had been seeing in my head for the last few hours. I unlaced my arms from around her shoulders and pried hers from around my waist before giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead and following him out into the hallway. I put my paw on his shoulder to stop him and took off the dog tags that still had Fox's and my names on them before going back into the room to give them to Amber. I placed them in her paw and closed her fingers over them with a smile on my face as I caught her confused look.

"Think of it as a present from me to you and Jasper. He'll know what they mean when he sees them. And when you hear two loud explosions, go to the hanger bay and wait for a dragon named Felix. He'll know what to do." I whispered before going back into the hall and towards my fate. For better or worse, I was going to get Amber back to Jasper. He was my friend and I didn't want him to suffer as he did waiting for me. _I'll miss you Jasper, more than you'll know, but I'll miss you all the same…_ I thought somberly as I followed James into the depths of the facility.

* * *

"Ah, Hazel… so glad that you could make it for the awakening." Michael greeted me with an exuberant hug and a bright smile. It shocked me that he wasn't smoking a cigarette, but I guessed that he didn't want to taint the proceedings with smoke.

"May I ask what part I play in this, Michael?" I asked calmly, but he wasn't paying any attention to me as I stared at a pair of operating tables gleaming sterilely in the lights beaming down onto the entire room. I noticed the tray full of surgical instruments and took note of each one; sizing them up for potential weapon use but deciding that if it came down to it, I'd have to fight him paw to paw.

"You'll find out in due time, my young niece. We are still waiting for the other participant to be brought in." He said cryptically, making me wonder if Sasha were the other participant he was talking about. I felt anxious standing next to him when he was wearing surgical scrubs, though I had resigned to my fate the moment I had agreed to the plan to begin with. A loud clattering noise drew my attention from the tables to the far right wall and I watched as a blue cylinder filled to the brim with stasis gel seemed to float up from a hole in the ground, a wolfess floating in it with her eyes closed and an oxygen mask strapped to her muzzle to keep her alive. The light in the stasis pod made her look as if she had silver hair, where in reality she probably had the same color hair as her fur. I walked over to the tank and put my paw against it, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu come over me as I stared at her face. I couldn't quite place it, but I knew her from somewhere. I saw Michael's reflection in the glass of the pod and turned to see him motioning to the operating tables. I moved silently towards the closet one and sat down on to its polished surface as I watched him drain the pod and take the wolfess out of it before carrying her over to the table next to me, placing her gently on its surface before smoothing down her hair with a tender look in his eyes. I was anxious to start the plan, but I had to wait for the signal or else the whole thing would be ruined. He walked around to my right side and laid me down onto the tabletop with a guiding paw on my shoulder before putting a mask over my muzzle. The effects of the anesthesia were almost instantaneous and I was feeling light headed before he had even put his surgical mask on.

"You may feel a slight pinch, Hazel, but that will go away after a couple of seconds. Are you ready?" Michael asked as I watched him pick up a scalpel and wondered what he was going to use it for. I gave him a tired nod and focused on keeping my body awake with gentle pulses of electricity. He reached for my bracer and as if on cue, two explosions simultaneously ripped through the complex, setting off every alarm in the place, making my ears ring painfully as Michael look around in surprise. I sat up and wrenched the mask off my face before sliding my arm up the bracer to pull out a foot long combat knife with a black blade on it. I lashed out with it towards his exposed neck to stick it in between his shoulder blades and was surprised to find that I couldn't shove the tip down into his flesh, it just hovered their on the edge of his scrubs. I tried to drive the point down farther, but the knife and my paw wouldn't move no matter how hard I tried.

"What the hell?" I breathed as I brought my other paw around to wrench against the other forcefully, trying to get it to move but it wouldn't budge. I hadn't noticed Michael chuckling, but when he started taking his scrubs off to reveal his creamy white furred chest and black cloth pants, I started paying attention. "What did you do?" I growled through my teeth as I let go of my frozen paw and ignited the other one.

"Temper, temper, Hazel. Wouldn't want you flying off the handle, now do we?" He asked as he pointed at me. I was about to laugh when both my arms were forced out to my sides and my paws dangled uselessly in tight fists. He waved his paw towards one of the walls higher up and I was launched through a glass windowpane out onto the observation deck, shattered glass showering around me and cutting into my body mercilessly. I groaned and crawled to my feet using a nearby chair for support before cupping my paws to my ears to keep the deafening sound of the many alarms from doing any permanent damage. I saw a shadow move on the wall in front of me and brought the knife up in time to catch the blade of a katana that seemed to have appeared out of thin air. It flew away from me after I pushed it back and heard Michael's chuckle ring out around me as the sword, along with a host of daggers and other projectiles, came flying towards me from different parts of the shadowy room. I dove to the floor and covered my head as the weapons flew overhead, thudding metallically against the steel wall as they were embedded into it. I looked up, hoping that the worst of it was over, and was rewarded with the crackle of a fire as a bright white flame erupted on a spot next to my head. I rolled to my side as more jets of flame shot up out of the floor and jumped to my feet before starting a backlash flame to burn out the others before making my way to the doors that meant freedom, not seeing the sickle that spun towards me before it was too late. I screamed in pain as the blade stuck into my side but struggled on until I was in the hallway, leaning against the adjacent wall as I gingerly pulled the sickle out of my side, feeling the injury already knitting itself together as I put a small flame to it to seal it shut.

"How the hell did he do that?!" I gasped as I threw the curved blade down onto the ground with a clatter, panting in pain as a small whir took me off guard. I looked down the length of the hall behind me and saw a grid of twelve lasers appear at the end, the orange beams gleaming evilly in the bright light. "Oh you have got to be kidding me?!" I exclaimed as I built up a charge in my paw and slammed it against the wall, sending thousands of volts through the system to short it out. The laser grid fizzled and died before an eerie glow lit the hall as the emergency lights came on, splashing everything in a soft blue light. When I was sure I wasn't going to collapse from the injury, I started jogging down to the opposite end of the hallway to a closed door that seemed to be my only way out of here. I built up enough of a charge in my palm to activate the door panel and turned it on as I brandished my knife infront of me with the blade backpawed.

The door opened slowly to let me into another hallway, though this one was lined with glass on either side that let me see into the cell that surrounded it. I stepped through tentatively and heard the door slide closed behind me with a low buzzing sound that meant it wasn't going to open again for the time being. I took a couple steps forward and heard a deep, rattling sort of breathing come from my right. I looked out one of the windows and found myself staring at a misty room that wouldn't let me see more than three feet infront of me. I heard the breathing again and looked up at the ceiling this time, but again I couldn't find anything. I felt shivers go down my spine and started walking a little faster towards the end of the hallway, my breath coming out as mist itself the farther I went.

"_Oh, what's the matter Hazey… don't you want to stay a while with your father?"_ A crazed, forebodingly familiar voice asked from just outside the glass wall to my left. I froze in mid-step, remembering the night all to clearly and turned slowly to face my father's demented face, a psychotic smile lighting up his muzzle while his claws dug into the glass between us. His clothes were in tatters while the metallic substance covered every part of his body except for half of his face. I took a step back from him as I heard the glass start to crack under the strain and sprinted away from him down towards the end of the hallway, the sound of shattering glass booming in my ears as he roared excitedly after me. I chanced a look behind me and urged my feet to go faster as I saw him easily catching up to me on all fours. I didn't know how close the door was and slammed into it with a heavy thud that had me back pedaling right into my father's waiting arms. His claws raked my back before I had a chance to roll out of his reach, sending searing waves of pain through my body as I sliced backwards with the knife, catching him on the tip of his muzzle. He laughed cruelly and lunged back at me, but this time I was ready for him. I turned slightly to avoid his charge and let my paw grab the side of his head before slamming it into the glass wall, a spider web of cracks coming from where his head hit. He started struggling against my grip but I held onto him and smashed his head into the wall repeatedly until the wall broke beneath the force of the pounding, sending us both out onto the ground on the other side amid fake grass and other things. I was huddled into a ball on the ground, crying horribly at the fact that I had just killed my father, but that mentality was soon shattered when I heard his rasping breathes again. I looked up to see him crawling towards me; the infected side of his skull destroyed and gave me a look at the sad look in his eyes. I rolled away from him and onto my feet while I held the knife in my paws towards him, the blade wavering as I sobbed at the state he was in. _"Kill me… Hazel… Let me… die… I miss your mother…" _He said in a sad growl, as he got closer, the forlorn look in his eyes making me cry even harder. I brought the knife up above my head when he was close enough and stabbed it through his skull, easily piercing the thin layer of the infection and into his brain. I wrenched the knife out of his head and quickly dropped the bloody thing onto the ground as I realized what I had just done. I heard a beep and looked back to see that the door had unlocked itself, but I just dropped to my knees and hugged my shoulders, sobbing from both the pain on my back and from the pain in my heart When I cried my fill and couldn't feel any more tears on the way, I wiped my father's blood off onto the grass and ripped off my bracer so I could put the knife back before walking sluggishly towards the hole in the glass and through the open door, leaving my dead father without anyone by his side when he passed on.

The door had led me into another sterile hallway, but this one was much shorter and that came to me as a relief because I was exhausted. I shambled quickly along its length, using the wall as a support to keep myself from falling over. I heard a deep bass humming come from the walls around me and hobbled along to the door quickly before three laser turrets popped up directly above me, swiveling to see where the intruder was. I crouched painfully down and put both paws to the ground, letting electricity pour out of them and short circuit the power in the hallway, the turrets dying instantly with no power flowing through them. I stood back up and powered the door panel up again to let me through and I was thrilled to feel the outside air on my cheeks. I stumbled out into the inky night and looked around at the unfamiliar terrain surrounding me before I started to the west, hugging to the walls so that I'd make my way to the hanger eventually. I kept walking for what seemed like hours thanks to my clawed back, but I finally rounded a corner and found what I was looking for in the form of two giant holes in the wall that looked as if something had taken huge bites out of it. I shuffled along as fast as I could, knowing that the sooner I made the trip, the sooner I could see Felix again and have my back tended to. I made it to the nearest hole and walked into the destroyed hanger bay to find Michael standing in the middle of the room holding Amber off the ground in his paw, her legs barely moving as she struggled for air. He tossed her aside when he noticed me standing there and gave me a smirk as he drew the katana that had attacked me in the observation deck. I growled as I drew the knife and stepped gingerly over to face him, keeping my back from him so he couldn't end this quickly. He struck suddenly and I had to put all my strength behind blocking him to keep from being pushed back. I took my paw off my knife and sent an electric shock into his chest, but he merely brushed it off as nothing and grabbed my paw before throwing me away from him, landing on the floor and sliding across it on my back, leaving a trail of blood behind me as I came to rest against Amber's rasping form. I painfully got back up onto my feet and felt the back side of his paw slam into my chin, knocking me off balance for a few steps before his fist crumpled my stomach, making me sink to my knees infront of him. He pulls me up to a standing position by my hair and hits me with the bottom of the swords handle, feeling a couple of my ribs break on impact.

"Oh come on, Hazel, you have to do better than that if you want to live. I meant what I said when this would be your final resting place, now prove to me that I was wrong and earn your right to live." He hissed into my ear as he let go of my arm and drilled his knee into the bruised flesh of my stomach, making my eyes go wide with fright as I fell down onto my back. I blinked the tears of pain out of my eyes and stiffly got up from the ground before bringing the knife to bear infront of me, my vision swimming as black spots started to appear infront of me while my breath became more labored to maintain. Everything was swaying as I saw him take a few steps back and make as if to sheathe his sword when he slashed it out across my stomach, the blade nowhere near me but a shockwave connected with my chest and sent me flying into a crate, my back arching around the curve of the box and making a nice indent in it to mold around me. I slid from the indent and fell onto all fours, panting hoarsely from the pain and looked up to see Michael walking slowly over to me, the tip of his blade dragging idly against the steel floor; sparks trailing each time it hit. I tried to get up to meet him, but my body wouldn't respond. "Get up."

"I can't… move…" I whimpered as I felt the edge of his blade against my neck. I saw Amber get up out of the corner of my eye, but there wasn't anything I could do for her now.

"I'm sorry it had to end this way, my dear, but if I have to end your life for Sasha to live, then I will do just that. Goodbye Hazel, tell my brother I said hello." He said with a hint of sadness in his voice as he raised the sword slightly to get a clean cut through my spine. I closed my eyes in acceptance and waited for the blade to fall when he gave me a savage kick in the ribcage, knocking me down onto the side as my vision started to fade again. "You don't deserve death yet, Hazel… but I will be there waiting to take what is mine." He whispered next to my ear before running off towards some other part of the complex, leaving Amber and me alone in the hanger to wait for the others to get there. I groaned in pain and vomited up blood as I tried to get up, my broken ribs grating painfully against each other as I stood up and took a couple of steps towards Amber, who was still clutching at her throat as if Michael were still choking her. I stopped a couple of steps away from her and looked down to see a blade coming through my stomach. The blade came free from my stomach with a quick pull and I fell face first onto the unforgiving floor, blood spurting out of my mouth as a broken rib punctured one of my lungs.

I could feel my life leaving my body as my blood started to pool on the floor underneath me and felt my vision cloud then brighten. I looked around and found that I wasn't in any pain anymore. I looked down and saw myself staring at my bloodied and broken body lying on the floor, Amber trying to keep my alive while Michael slowly slinked away into the shadows. I looked away from me and saw Felix running over to my body, his eyes wide with disbelief while he was still dressed in the clothes I'd last seen him in. I watched him cradle my head in his arms as he kneeled down next to me and I felt a pang of guilt for dying on him, but I knew it was going to happen. There was a bright light over my head and I looked up to see that the ceiling was gone, replaced with clouds and an all-consuming light. I shaded my eyes against the light and saw someone coming down to greet me, though I wasn't all that sure if I wanted to be dead yet. There was still so much of my life that I hadn't lived yet, so many things I wanted to do. But my grips on reality started to fade as I looked down at myself one last time, seeing my peaceful face as my arm reached for my body, but I decided it was for the best and let myself be yanked back into the painful world that was my life.

"Look, she's coming too." I heard Dante whisper to someone as I groaned in horrible pain and weakly opened my eyes to find that I was back in Felix's bedroom, surrounded by Maxi, Dante, Felix and Amber; all of them looking anxious and sleep deprived. I tried to sit up and instantly went back down when the head rush from the pounding my body had been put through caught up to me, making the blood pound in my ears and threaten to make me throw up. I put my paw to my head and blinked a couple of times before attempting to sit up again, this time Felix helped me up slowly and sat down next to me to keep me from falling over.

"Ugh… how long was I out for?" I rasped, my mouth dry from going so long with anything to drink. Felix handed me a glass of water and I gratefully cupped my paws around it, seeing them bandaged slightly from where the glass had cut into them.

"For a couple of days. We never should've let you go down their alone, Hazel. Next time-" Maxi started, but I gave her a stern glare and she shut her mouth.

"There won't be a next time, guys. Michael made it abundantly clear by using me as an example that we can't stop him. I made out alive because he wants something from me. I don't know what it is, but it has to be something worth keeping me alive for. I don't want any of you going after him without telling me first, got it?" I said angrily, covering up my fear and pain with anger. There was a smattering agreement and I was glad that they would listen to me. Felix cleared his throat and got up off of the bed before he made a big show of ushering everyone out of his room.

"Okay guys, Hazel answered all your questions, but you need to let her rest. Go on get out. It's still my room and I did help pay for a third of this ship, so leave. That means you too, Maxi, now go." He said to all of them as the door closed behind the others. He waited until he was sure that everyone was gone on the other side of the door before locking it with a code he tapped into a keypad next to the door and coming back over to sit next to me, a tortured look on his face as he looked over the injuries I'd suffered during my brief stay with my uncle. I took a sip from the water and waited for my stomach to do flips and make me vomit, so when I didn't, I downed the entire glass and put it back onto the bedside table before looking at Felix and then down at the bandages on my paws, ashamed to look at him. "What are you thinking about, Hazel?" He asked in a quiet voice, his paw sliding over to take mine in his. I looked up with tears rimming my eyes and wiped them away with the back of my bandaged paw before caressing his cheek with my palm.

"Our future and mostly what I would've done if I had died that day. It would've been boring without you there with me." I said quietly, bringing my head closer to his. He smiled gently and caressed my cheek with his free paw.

"Well, we have a long while till we have that hurdle to jump, don't we?" He asked as I tilted my head to the side a little and pressed my lips against his. He was right, we had a long time before either of us died and I wanted to spend as much of the time we had together with him as I possibly could.

**I'm sorry for putting you through this but… there is a little bit more to the story than that… enjoy the epilogue/prologue for the next in the series. **


	14. Epilogue

TWO WEEKS LATER

"Are you sure this is where he lives, Amber?" I asked her in a skeptical voice as I stared at the music store named "Paradise Records". I looked at the arctic vixen, who chose to wear something reminiscent of Geno's style of clothing with a pair of jean short shorts that were attached to the bottoms with a pair of military belts and a tank top with the front and back held together by a single strap over her right shoulder, and sighed. She looked back at me and nodded happily before walking into the music store, leaving me out in the rain for a second before I followed her inside, my shoulders hunched as I threw up the hood on my jacket. I heard the bell tinkle over head and I looked around with a smile on my muzzle as I noticed some of the flair that was brought about by some memory of me; the silver garlands hanging off the ceiling, the palm trees in the corners, actual sand in some places and an fountain in the middle of the shop. _Same old eccentric Jasper…_ I thought as I looked around for the badger, though I couldn't see Amber either, which made me a little apprehensive. I started towards the back of the shop after flipping the open sign to closed and silently pushed open the door she had left ajar when she had passed through. I slid out one of the knives I kept on me at all times, a small assassin's throwing dagger, and started up the stairs as quietly as possible, hugging to the walls to keep myself as invisible as possible. I didn't like the silence and it made me even more unnerved when I saw that the closest door was open yet no light was coming out of the room. I inched into the room and scanned it for anything strange, which was hard because I didn't know this space as well as I wished I did. I heard a couple of muffled voices from a side room and crept over to it, with every intention of going in when the door opened and a massive paw dragged me forward into the room.

"HAZEL!!!!" Jasper yelled happily as he drew me into a bone crushing bear hug, swinging me around a couple times before I hugged him back, laughing along with him as I wrapped my arms around his neck. When he stopped spinning me around, I heard Amber laughing at us from the bed and shot her a playful glare as he let me go.

After that, we talked about what we had been doing since I had left the dragon's tower. I was surprised to find out that Jasper had gone through sort of a berserk rage when he found out that I had been sent off and took on the dragon by himself, though it was amusing to learn that I lasted longer than he did. The same thing had happened to him, though he had ended up on a known planet that he had been to before and had some money stashed away to get an apartment to live in before getting a job at this music store. I was jealous of the fact that he had been able to carve out a good life for himself after he had gotten kicked out, but it did my heart a little good to know that he never stopped thinking about me for the first year and a half before Amber came into his life. At first, he hadn't felt anything towards her, still going through the motions of honouring our pact and fighting off the urges he had as a man. But, as time went on, they started talking to each other more and he found that they had much in common, as did he and I, but I wasn't going to point that out.

"…so one thing led to another and we kinda fell for each other." Jasper said as he took her paw in his, the way they looked at each other reminding me of how I stared at Felix when we together. Amber giggled with a blush and looked up at him before she gave him a peck on the cheek. I had moved to the wall and was sitting on the floor when he remembered that I was in the room. "That doesn't make you angry, does it Hazel? I mean… if you were in my position, you would do the same, right?" He asked timidly with a shy smile on his face. I stood up and brushed some imaginary dust of my black cargo jeans before walking over to him with a glare on my face before giving him an affectionate hug around the neck.

"How could I be angry with one of my best friends, Jasper? I've kinda moved on too, but I was so caught with all the stuff going on with me that I forgot about your feelings. I'm glad you found someone new to be with and as for you Amber," I let go of Jasper and turned my smile onto her. "You couldn't have fallen for a better man than Jasper McKinley. He was the best friend I had ever had and even though we fought sometimes, I could console in him with whatever problems I had. He'll be a great person to you, don't forget that." I said as I pulled my hood back up and turned to leave. Jasper got up off the bed and gave me one last farewell bear hug before I left the two lovers to their own devices, closing the door after myself as I got out into the hall. I wiped my tears off of my cheeks and sighed heavily before walking out of the shop, turning out the lights and locking up the shop for him with a lock pick set I started carrying around with me. I looked up at the sky, the gentle drizzle feeling refreshing against my fur as I stared up at the dark clouds, knowing that my life was, at the moment, just as calm as this rain. I walked off down the street in the direction of the spaceport, listening to the cars pass me by as they drove through the puddles of water, my paws in my pockets as I noted the number of furs passing me by on the sidewalk. The way some walked with their shoulders hunched against the rain while others held umbrellas above their heads, some talking to friends and some just rushing to get home and out of the rain. I grinned slightly at their antics and stopped off at a bar to get a drink, wanting to see if I could stir up something before I got back.

The bar was your standard affair; booths in the back for furs who wanted to eat and drink with their friends while a couple of pool tables were off to the side, some tables in the middle and a bar with a wide range of liquor and alcohol to choose from. There was a sort of smoky haze in the place that probably came from all of the smokers passing through and the few naked light bulbs hanging off the ceiling gave the whole place an orangeish tinge to it. Besides me and the bartender, there were a couple of furs playing pool in the corner and a few patrons in the booths, as well as a gang of furs harassing the bar keep; a young wolfess with blood red curls and grey fur that was mostly covered by a t-shirt that accentuated her figure from the hips up. _Almost too easy…_ I thought with a sigh as I took a seat at a stool a couple of seats away from the one who was obviously the leader as he was the one making most of the jibes and remarks. He was a jackal by the looks of him and he didn't look to bright, but what he obviously lacked in brains he certainly made up for in brawn and numbers. He had around six other furs with him, though a couple looked as if they were there only to get a free piece of tail that night. They were all wearing black bandannas around their left forearms while the leader had a red stripe going through his, adding to the ease of what I wanted to do. I reached over the counter and made a big show of taking a beer from the shelf, knowing that the bar keep would take any excuse to get away from the jackal. As if on cue, she swiftly walked over to me and took the beer bottle from my paw before putting it back behind the counter on the shelf.

"If you want something, your gonna have to pay for it like everyone else." She said sternly. I caught the sidelong glance she cast at the gang and knew without looking that the jackal was moving to sit next to me.

"Okay then. Sorry." I apologized as I pulled a couple of credits out of my pocket and paid for it before pulling my hood back, making sure they got a good look of me. I reached out for my beer and felt the jackal grab my wrist in his paw, his grip light and playful, though I knew by the way he was looking at me that it could get a lot stronger if he wanted.

"What's a pretty girl like you paying for beer in a place like this, huh? Let me get that for you, on the house. Hey Marisa, give the nice lady her money back." The jackal barked, but I just shook my head and opened the beer with a flick of my thumb claw before giving it to one of the gang members standing around me.

"If you don't let go of my wrist in the next six seconds, I'm going to have force you to let go." I warned him, my voice barely above a whisper yet I knew everyone could hear me because they started laughing, the jackal the loudest.

"Oh really? I'd like to see you try." He threatened as he reached for my chest. I shrugged my shoulders and let a current run through my arm, causing him to yelp in pain and jump out of his seat before my fist collided with his stomach. His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell backwards onto the floor with a heavy thud, making some of the bottles on the shelf shudder. I took my beer from the gang member I had handed it to before giving it to the bar keep and getting up from my seat and was about to walk off when one of them grabbed my shoulder.

"Hey, lady, I don't know what you did, but nobody does that to Deuce and leaves in one piece. Now I know you're a girl and all, so I'm gonna take it easy on you." He said as he spun me around, getting an uppercut and a knee to the groin for the effort. Watching the second of them go down in as many as thirty seconds seemed to snap them out of their stupor, because the rest started pulling out knives to attack me with. I laughed and put my paws up to show that I was unarmed.

"You're going to attack a lone, defenseless girl who's unarmed? You should be ashamed of yourselves." I pleaded mockingly. I heard a whistle and turned to catch a pool cue that someone had thrown me. I backed away slightly to get more room and let them come at me before cracking one of them over the head with the cue, the stick snapping like a twig before I threw the other two pieces at the other two, catching them off guard and knocking them senseless with good shots to the temple. The last one just stood there with his knife on the floor and his paws up in surrender. I walked up to him and looked him dead in his eyes, my eyes boring holes in to his. I took another step towards him and he backed away a couple of steps. I made as if to punch him and he spun around and ran headlong into a support column. I caught him before he hit the ground and walked on his chest to get over him so that I was standing above the leader, Deuce. "Got any cold water?" I asked Marisa. She nodded eagerly and brought me a cup. I drank it slowly and then made the shape of a bucket with my paws. She nodded again and went into the back to get what I asked for before coming back to give it to me. I thanked her and dumped it all over the unconscious jackal's crotch, the frigid water making him bolt upright and howl in pain as the cold water seeped into his fur. Before he could run, I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him down to my level so that he was looking at me eye to eye. "I believe you have some people to apologize to. For starters," I gripped his chin and turned his head in Marisa's direction. "Tell her your sorry for thinking you and your gang could rape her."

"Why the hell should I?" He growled. I chuckled darkly and slammed his head into the bar top before pointing him in her direction.

"Now, imagine that to your nuts with a bucket and I think we might have an understanding. Now tell her." I said calmly, turning his chin again so that he was looking at her.

"I'm sorry, Marisa, for thinking that me and my gang could rape you." He said in a rush. I slammed his head into the bar again to make him say it slowly and clearly so everyone could understand him before making him face me again.

"Now apologize to me."

"What for? I didn't do nothin to ya, though I should run you through right here and now for that little display." He snarled at me. I gave him a wicked grin and let go of him before stepping away from the bar.

"Alright then Deuce, if you think you can take me, then lets make a little bet. If I beat you down, you apologize to me and you and your gang never come to this bar again or harass Marisa in any way. If I lose, I'll become your gang's slave for however long you want me to be there. Deal?" I asked, unzipping my jacket and tossing it over to Marisa before unbuckling my gun belt as well as the few knives I had belted around my arms. I saw the glimmer of lust in his eyes as he saw the figure contained in the jacket and knew he'd agree.

"You got yourself a deal, slave." He said confidently as he took off his jacket and put his paws up in a boxer's stance while I stood with my arms at my sides, my body loose and relaxed. He lunged at me and I danced nimbly to the side before punching him square in the spot between his shoulder blades, sending him sprawling onto the ground. He jumped back up onto his feet and pulled out a pair of brass knuckles to fit of his fingers before taking a swing at me. I stopped his fist with the palm of my paw and smirked as I quickly switched the paws holding onto him and snapped his arm at the elbow with a quick push. I let go of his now limp arm and punched him in the stomach before grabbing his head in my paws and driving my knee into his skull, a satisfying crunch greeting me as I broke his nose. I stepped onto his chest and gripped his throat as I leaned down close to him so that he could hear me.

"Will you come into this bar again, Deuce?" I asked, tightening my grip on his throat slightly so that it was harder for him to breathe.

"No, you win. I can't breathe." He gasped as his face started turning blue underneath his fur. I let go of him and walked back over to Marisa and buckled my stuff back onto my body before putting my jacket back on. I slipped the Desert Eagle Felix had pulled on me himself the first time we met and pointed it behind me to stick into Deuce's muzzle.

"Never try and sneak up on someone infront of a mirror, idiot." I muttered as I spun my heel around and caught him in his ribs before bringing his head down onto the bar repeatedly until he was unconscious. I let him fall onto the ground and put the pistol back before zipping up my jacket and putting my hood back up. I pulled out a couple thousand credit notes from my pocket and handed them to Marisa, a smirk showing up from underneath the hood. "You shouldn't take that sort of crap from guys like that. Use that money to learn self-defense and kick the crap out of them if they come back. Also, you might want a new pool cue, cause I kinda broke the other one. Sorry bout that." I said as I turned for the door. I walked out of the bar and heard whispered thanks from Marisa before heading off towards the spaceport at a quicker pace, knowing that the cops would be there soon to clean up what I started.

It took another hour to make my way to the spaceport and fight through the throngs of furs to find the right dock that the Nomad was docked in. Felix was waiting for me, as usual, on the stretch of dock just infront of the exit. Even in the rain with his hair plastered to his head, he held a sort of breathtaking beauty that made my heart flutter happily. I sighed and jogged the last few yards to him, getting caught in a hug with him and giving him a kiss on the lips as my arms wrapped around his waist. He pulled away from me and wrinkled his nose playfully as he sniffed the air around me.

"Were you in a _bar_, Hazel? I thought you hated smoking." He teased in mock indignation as he let go of me.

"Just wanted to get a little exercise before Maxi makes me do double chores for shirking my duties." I groaned theatrically as I passed him and walked into the ship up the loading ramp, my hood falling as I waited for Felix to follow me.

"So… are you okay with this?" He asked as we walked back to the bridge to get our chewing out about chores.

"As long as he's happy with his choice, then I'm happy. I know I'm happy with mine." I said with a playful nudge to his ribs. He chuckled and let me go first into the room where Maxi was standing in her seldom worn flight uniform. She was smiling and her paws were clasped behind her back as she looked at me.

"Hey Hazel come here." She said as she pulled her paw from behind her back, holding a medallion on a silver chain with a symbol of a bleeding rose that was entwined around their Twilight fighters. I cocked an eyebrow and stepped up infront of her for her to drape the medallion around my neck.

"Okay, Maxi, you feeling alright?" I asked.

"You're part of the Forgotten Ones now, Hazel. And yes, I'm feeling fine. You, on the other hand, have double chore duty to look forward to." She said with a grin as she flipped back my hood.

"That's my first duty as one of the crew, chores? I was expecting something more extravagant, but I guess I'll have to cope." I said with a roll of my eyes as I snapped a smart salute and walked off the bridge, right into Felix's arms.

"So, my crewmate, what should we do first?" He asked. I giggled and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Oh, I've got a few ideas." I said seductively into his ear. We ran off to his room and celebrated like there was no tomorrow.

**Now this is the end of Infected. I would like to thank Shadowfox for my use of Axel, Sonic Fox for the use of the Remnant, coyotek for Geno, and every copyrighted thing I have used in this story. I will be writing a follow up story to this one and if you want my honest opinion, this is the best use of my time I can think of. You all have made me a better writer and I hope you'll keep reading what I write in the future. Till next we meet, fellow soldiers of fortune and mercenaries alike, The Forgotten Ones are coming for you. **


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